What Is Politics?
Politics is the process by which people agree about how to live together in groups such as tribes, cities and countries. People who spend a lot of time working on politics are called politicians. The study of politics is known as political science, public affairs or government. The word politics may be used negatively, referring to the practice of manoeuvring for power, or positively, as an activity that seeks to solve conflict through compromise and cooperation.
When a group of people disagree, they often divide into opposing political camps. One common view is that politicking, or scheming for power, is dirty and immoral. However, studies of political behavior show that people who are skilled at navigating office politics are more likely to achieve their goals at work.
A broader definition of politics is that it involves making decisions about how to organize a society and allocate resources. This includes deciding which laws should be made and who should run a country or other entity. Governments are often organized into a system of departments such as the legislative, executive and judicial branches, which each have their own functions. In most democratic societies, people are able to vote in elections for the leaders of their governments.
Politics are also a complex set of interactions between nation-states, which can be peaceful when conducted through diplomacy or violent when escalated to war. States that have a lot of influence in the international arena are sometimes referred to as superpowers. Other nations that have less influence are often referred to as middle powers or regional powers.
Some argue that a narrow interpretation of politics is too limited, and that many different activities, actors and spaces are political. For example, they point out that the decisions that make up a person’s life are often political, such as where to live and what to do for a living. Likewise, they point to protests against dominant social norms or government law as being political. Others, such as the philosopher Hannah Arendt, argue that anything that is part of a power struggle is political. This would include arguments about animal rights, the choice not to eat meat and other seemingly trivial matters. Other scholars suggest that a more inclusive definition of politics can be helpful, as it enables us to see that, even in a wide sense, we are all engaged in a power struggle all the time, and that the decisions we make, whether or not we realize it, are politically motivated. They argue that this explains why mild forms of political participation have positive effects on well-being, while heavy involvement has negative ones.
Politics is the process by which people agree about how to live together in groups such as tribes, cities and countries. People who spend a lot of time working on politics are called politicians. The study of politics is known as political science, public affairs or government. The word politics may be used negatively, referring to the practice of manoeuvring for power, or positively, as an activity that seeks to solve conflict through compromise and cooperation. When a group of people disagree, they often divide into opposing political camps. One common view is that politicking, or scheming for power, is dirty and immoral. However, studies of political behavior show that people who are skilled at navigating office politics are more likely to achieve their goals at work. A broader definition of politics is that it involves making decisions about how to organize a society and allocate resources. This includes deciding which laws should be made and who should run a country or other entity. Governments are often organized into a system of departments such as the legislative, executive and judicial branches, which each have their own functions. In most democratic societies, people are able to vote in elections for the leaders of their governments. Politics are also a complex set of interactions between nation-states, which can be peaceful when conducted through diplomacy or violent when escalated to war. States that have a lot of influence in the international arena are sometimes referred to as superpowers. Other nations that have less influence are often referred to as middle powers or regional powers. Some argue that a narrow interpretation of politics is too limited, and that many different activities, actors and spaces are political. For example, they point out that the decisions that make up a person’s life are often political, such as where to live and what to do for a living. Likewise, they point to protests against dominant social norms or government law as being political. Others, such as the philosopher Hannah Arendt, argue that anything that is part of a power struggle is political. This would include arguments about animal rights, the choice not to eat meat and other seemingly trivial matters. Other scholars suggest that a more inclusive definition of politics can be helpful, as it enables us to see that, even in a wide sense, we are all engaged in a power struggle all the time, and that the decisions we make, whether or not we realize it, are politically motivated. They argue that this explains why mild forms of political participation have positive effects on well-being, while heavy involvement has negative ones.