The Basics of Politics
Politics is the authoritative and legitimate struggle for limited resources or precious rights and privileges within a polity. The word is also used to describe the branch of social science that studies politics and government. Many people assume that politics boils down to a conflict between competing interests, but this view neglects the fact that many of the most important issues are uncontested. The most common political struggles are for things like money, territory, and power.
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote that the art of politics is to get and keep power. This idea was echoed by Thomas Hobbes in his 1651 book Leviathan, which suggested that the existence of politics is inevitable and necessary because human beings are prone to selfishness. More recently, John Stuart Mill argued that politics should be based on principles such as liberty and equality.
Regardless of their precise ideological foundations, most political systems share certain features. These include a central authority (a centralized state or government), an electoral process, and the existence of political parties. In the United States, the federal government is structured into two major political parties that compete for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The two parties are primarily distinguished by their ideologies, but they also vary with respect to age, region, and ethnicity.
A governing system can be classified as a democracy, republic, or dictatorship. In democratic governments, power is shared between the citizens and representatives elected by them. In a republic, power is vested in a president or prime minister, and is exercised by elected officials who make policy decisions for the entire country. In a dictatorship, the ruler exercises complete control over the state and is typically backed by police and military forces to maintain control.
In addition to the competing interests that make up a governing system, politicians must contend with the rules that determine who can participate in a given policy arena. For example, voting rules can be permissive or restrictive, which affects how many voters actually cast a ballot. Politicians who believe that they have a greater chance of winning under permissive voting rules will advocate for them, while those who believe that they will do better under stricter voting rules will oppose them.
Moreover, the way in which policy problems are framed or narrated can have significant consequences for their distribution. This recognition has fueled a new generation of political scholarship that emphasizes the role of narratives in politics. The term ‘ideational turn’ reflects this shift in emphasis, as scholars have noted that the battles over how policy problems are portrayed may have just as much impact on distribution as the actual policies that result. As a result, the notion of politics as a conflict over distribution is increasingly being challenged by scholars. This challenge has been accelerated by the rise of ’fake news’ and other phenomena that have made it more difficult to separate facts from fiction in political discourse.
Politics is the authoritative and legitimate struggle for limited resources or precious rights and privileges within a polity. The word is also used to describe the branch of social science that studies politics and government. Many people assume that politics boils down to a conflict between competing interests, but this view neglects the fact that many of the most important issues are uncontested. The most common political struggles are for things like money, territory, and power. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote that the art of politics is to get and keep power. This idea was echoed by Thomas Hobbes in his 1651 book Leviathan, which suggested that the existence of politics is inevitable and necessary because human beings are prone to selfishness. More recently, John Stuart Mill argued that politics should be based on principles such as liberty and equality. Regardless of their precise ideological foundations, most political systems share certain features. These include a central authority (a centralized state or government), an electoral process, and the existence of political parties. In the United States, the federal government is structured into two major political parties that compete for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The two parties are primarily distinguished by their ideologies, but they also vary with respect to age, region, and ethnicity. A governing system can be classified as a democracy, republic, or dictatorship. In democratic governments, power is shared between the citizens and representatives elected by them. In a republic, power is vested in a president or prime minister, and is exercised by elected officials who make policy decisions for the entire country. In a dictatorship, the ruler exercises complete control over the state and is typically backed by police and military forces to maintain control. In addition to the competing interests that make up a governing system, politicians must contend with the rules that determine who can participate in a given policy arena. For example, voting rules can be permissive or restrictive, which affects how many voters actually cast a ballot. Politicians who believe that they have a greater chance of winning under permissive voting rules will advocate for them, while those who believe that they will do better under stricter voting rules will oppose them. Moreover, the way in which policy problems are framed or narrated can have significant consequences for their distribution. This recognition has fueled a new generation of political scholarship that emphasizes the role of narratives in politics. The term ‘ideational turn’ reflects this shift in emphasis, as scholars have noted that the battles over how policy problems are portrayed may have just as much impact on distribution as the actual policies that result. As a result, the notion of politics as a conflict over distribution is increasingly being challenged by scholars. This challenge has been accelerated by the rise of ’fake news’ and other phenomena that have made it more difficult to separate facts from fiction in political discourse.