Ironically, ‘politics’ is one of the most ambiguous terms in political science alongside terms
such as the ‘state’, ‘power’, ‘ideology’, etc.
Definitions of politics include:
Harold Lasswell - ‘who gets what, when and how’.
Stoker and Marsh - ‘politics is about the uneven distribution of power’.
Henry Adams - politics is ‘the systematic organisation of hatred’.
Stocker - ‘politics is designed to disappoint’, and its outcomes are ‘often messy,
ambiguous and never final’.
Crick - politics is based on conflict resolution.
Oakeshott - everything can be considered political.
‘Politics’ can then be divided into two conceptions:
Arena (politics can be defined by where it takes place):
o Bismarck - ‘the art of government and control of society’.
o This leads to a split between the public and the private sphere or
that of public affairs; feminists have criticised this because depoliticising the
public sphere conceals many women’s issues; Marxists have criticised this split
for it removes the economy and capitalism from the political realm.
o This is very much the ‘everyday’ conception of politics i.e. what
politicians do.
Process (politics as certain characteristics of behaviour):
o This is linked to power - linked to the uneven distribution of power,
o The allocation of scarce resources is inherently about compromise (a
process which avoids violence) and power.
o This makes politics evident in all social activities through the ability
to achieve a desired outcome.
Consideration can be given to the normative approach which claims that politics is the
process through people seek to achieve the optimal conditions for life. Aristotle claimed
politics to the ‘master science’ (consisting of: contemplative science, practical science and
productive science) in the pursuit of the ‘good life’. Furthermore, Hobbes can be drawn on
also as a normative commitment in the avoidance of the ‘state of nature’ i.e. a commitment
to protection and peace.
The word Politics is derived from Greek word 'polis' which means city-states. So in ancient
Greece whatever concern city states (polis) was Politics and in modern time whatever
concern modern state is Politics. Most established definition of Politics is "the activity
through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live."
Diversity and scarcity are the twin facts of the society. In such society people have different
opinions, different needs, different preferences, different wants, different choices, different
interests, etc. Hence conflicts are inevitable. On the other hand people are also aware about
importance of cooperation. (As noted by Hannah Arendt's political power is 'acting in
concert.'). By this view, Politics in a broader sense is 'conflict resolution'. But all conflicts can
not be resolved. Hence we can define Politics as being 'in the search of conflict resolution'.
While understanding the concept of Politics we have to understand following aspects:
1) Some scholar present politics as an 'art of government'. Like, David Eston called politics
as 'authoritative allocation of values', by which he means binding decision made by
government. This view includes Politics as the study of structures, institutions and
government apparatus only. Here politics is essentially state bound activity.
2) Other chunk of scholars present Politics as specifically public activity where it is
associated with conduct and management of community affairs. They are concern with
mainly with political community where 'the good life' can be achieved rather than private or
individual concerns.
3) Some people separates military solutions from that of political solutions. Military
solutions include use of naked power and arbitration. While political power is highly
prescribing deliberations and discussions. So, according to this view Politics is seen as a
mean of resolving conflict by compromise, conciliation and negotiation. Thats why they
called Politics as 'art of possible'.
4) According to fourth aspect, Politics is associated with production, distribution and use of
resources. In this view 'Politics is about Power'. As Herold Lasswell correctly pointed out
'Politics is who gets What, When and How?' Feminists and Marxists prescribe to this view.
*Many people consider Politics as a negatively loaded and manipulative term. But with this
malign opinion we can not understand true nature of Politics.
