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PREVIEW
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Aristotle (384-322 BCE, Ancient Greece, Man is by nature a political animal, , Only within a political community that human beings can, live the “good live”, Politics is an ethical activity concerned with creating, “just society”
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Ancient Greece, , Treatise of Virtue of Aristotle, Examines the good of the individual, , Ethics, , , , Mutually, Complementary, , “Philosophy, of human, affairs”, , Politics, Examines the good of the city-state, , Treatise of Virtue
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Politics is exciting because people disagree, How they should live, , How should power and resources be distributed, Should society be based on cooperation or conflict, , How should such matters be resolved, How should collective decisions be made, , Who should have a say, , For, Aristotle,, this made, politics the, “master, science”, , How much influence should each person have, , Activity through which human beings attempt to improve, their lives and create the Good Society
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DEFINING POLITICS
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In broadest sense, Politics is the activity through which, people make, preserve and amend the general rules, under which they live., , Conflict, , Cooperation, , Politics often portrayed as a proces of “conflict resolution”
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Conceptions of Politics, As the Art of Government, , As Public Affairs, Politics, As Compromise and Consensus, , As Power
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POLITICS AS THE ART OF, GOVERNMENT
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Politics is viewed as the exercise of control within, society through the making and enforcement of, collective decisions, , Refer to the affairs of the polis, what concerns the state, , the study politics, in essence, to study government, or, more broadly, to study the exercise of authority
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Politics is defined as the “authoritative allocation of, values” (David Easton, the influential US political scientist; 1979, 1981), , Politics encompassess the various process through which, government responds to pressures from the larger society, in, particular by allocating benefits, rewards or penalties, , Politics is associated with “policy”
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Critics of this View, 1, , • Politics is therefore practised in “cabinet rooms”, , 2, , • It is engaged in by a limited and specific group of, people, notably politicians, civil servants, and lobbyists, , 3, , • Most people, institutions, and social activities can be, regarded as being “outside” politics, , 4, , • Often viewed as a “negative activities” in the terms of, “self-serving”, “two-faced”, “unprincipled activities”
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What are our tasks?, Not to abolish politicians and bring politics to an end, , But................, , To ensure that politics is conducted within a framework of checks and, constraints that guarantee that governmental power is not abused
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POLITICS AS PUBLIC AFFAIRS
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Politics as Public Affairs concerns on “public life” or, “public affairs”, , So, there is a need of distinction between “the, , political” and “non-political/private”
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Public vs Non-Public, Traditional, perspective, , Public, • state, • Institutions of the state, • Responsible for the, collective organization of, community life, • Funded at the public’s, expense, out of taxation, , Non-Public, , • Civil society, • Set up and funded by, individual citizens to satisfy, their own interests, • Those areas of life that, individuals can do and, manage for themselves, , Feminist Perspective, There is a clear distinction between professional conduct of politician, and their personal or domestic behaviour
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Positive vs Negative Images of the View, , Positive, , Negative, , • Aristotle = politics has been, seen as a noble and enlightened, activity precisely because of its, “public” character, • Hannah Arendt = politics is the, most important form of human, activity because it involves, interaction amongst free and, equal citizens, • Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Jihn, Stuart Mill = political, participation as a good in itself, have drawn similar conclusions, , • Portrayed as a form of, unwanted interference, • Liberal theorists have exhibited, that civil society has, preferences, choice, personal, freedom and individual, responsibility, • Liberal theorists think that, politics is unwholesome quite, simply because it prevents, people acting as they choose.
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POLITICS AS COMPROMISE AND CONSENSUS
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This conception of politics related to the way in which, decisions are made, , Specifically, politics is seen as a particular means of resolving, conflict, that is, by compromise, conciliation and negotiation,, rather than through force and naked power, , Politics is portrayed as “the art of possible”
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Aristotle’s belief, , This conception of politics is influenced by Aristotle’s belief, that what he called “polity” is the ideal system of, government, as it is “mixed”, in the sense that it combines, both aristocratic and democratic features.
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Bernard Crick (In Defence of Politics), Politics is the activity by which differing interests, within a given unit of rule are conciliated by giving, them a share in power in proportion to their, importance to the welfare and the survival of the, whole community (Crick, 1962, 2000), , Crick argued that when social and interests groups possess, power, they must be conciliated; they cannot merely be, crushed.
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Mean of Compromise in Politics, Compromise means that concessions are made by all sides,, leaving no one perfectly satisfied, , Stoker (2006) argued that “politics is designed to, dissapoint”; its outcomes are often messy, ambiguous and, never final.
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Impact of the failure in understanding politics as, a process of compromise and reconciliation, , The failure in understanding politics as a process of compromise, and reconciliation is neccesserily frustrating and difficult, , (because it involves listening carefully to the opinions of others), may have contributed to a growing popular disenchantment, with democratic politics across much of the developed world.
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POLITICS AS POWER
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Politics as Power, 1, , • This conception is both the broadest and the most, radical, , 2, , • This view sees politics at work in all social activities and, in every corner of human existence, , 3, , 4, , • Politics is at the heart of all collective social activity,, formal and informal, public and private, in all human, groups, institutions and societies (Adrian Leftwich in, What is Politics? The Activity and Its Study, 2004), • It can be found within families and amongst small, groups of friends, etc.
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Politics as Power, Politics concern on the production, distribution, and use of, resources in the course of social existence., , In essence, power is the ability to achieve a desired outcome, , through wathever means., , Politics is about diversity and conflict, but the essential, ingredient is the existence of scarcity
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Politics as Power, , Politics can be seen as a struggle over scarce, resources, and power can be seen as the means, , through which this struggle is conducted
