Essay Example about Key Concepts of Politics

The quote 'Politics is a many-sided concept, only to be understood if viewed from various angles.' can be seen as accurate in the study of politics. While in the study of politics, there is not a universally agreed-upon definition, there are several key conceptions that can are often applied to its definition. These include politics as the art of government, politics as public affairs, politics as compromise and politics as power. In this essay, I will be evaluating these key concepts of politics and how well I believe they define politics and help to explain what it entails.

The first conception through which we may view politics is as the art of government. This is the idea that politics is an issue of state and can only be carried out in associated spaces such as in a council building. This view is supported by people such as political scientist David Easton who in 1965 described politics as the "authoritative allocation of values" (Heywood 2013). This quote suggests that a part of politics is the process that the government takes part in to meet the demands of the public, through giving benefits, rewards, and punishments and that those values are accepted as a policy or plan for the community. Opposing Easton's view is anti-politicism where the belief is that the system of government has become corrupt, power-seeking, and no longer represents the values of the public and that direct action such as sit-ins, strikes and counter-economics is a better way for the public to achieve goals of interest as seen in the Suffragette movement. This approach suggests that politics exists outside of governmental spaces and supports the view of politics as a many-sided concept. Furthermore, the use of propaganda pamphlets such as Mein Kampf (Hitler, 1923) and What Is to Be Done? (Lenin, 1902) often promotes political agendas through information being presented to the public in a certain lens can also be seen as an example of politics outside of political buildings and can therefore be viewed as further supporting this concept.

Another angle through which we can view politics is politics as public affairs. This is the idea that the distinction between political and non-political matters is whether they take place in a public or a private space, the former being political. This expands the view of politics from solely being governmental into a multidisciplinary field that includes schools, unions, and other public institutions. This view is originated from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who in his book Politics, said that “man is by nature a political animal”. This means that as humans are fundamentally political, establishing a political community was a virtue associated with a moral society and was noble as it was public. Furthering this view is liberal theorists who believe that while politics should not be excluded to just governmental fields, it should not interact with people's individual lives and values as seen in this quote by historian Kathleen G. Donohue (2003) on the ideology of classical liberalists ".... they were more than willing to see government provide tariffs, railroad subsidies, and internal improvements, all of which benefited producers. What they condemned was intervention on behalf of consumers."  Opposing this view was the second wave of feminism in which believed that the restriction of politics to public affairs was exclusionary to women who, through history, were placed in the background to be centred on family and domestic responsibilities and in the private sphere. Additionally, they critiqued that politics was already a part of the private sphere in the patriarchal structure that was present both in family lives and in the male-led political spheres

Additionally, there is the concept of politics as compromise and consensus. The core of this concept is that the primary purpose of politics is to solve common issues or problems through discussing and negating them and the act of finding a common solution to those problems is what makes it inherently political. In support of this concept is political theorist Bernard Crick who stated that the "solution to the problem of order which chooses conciliation rather than violence and coercing" (Heywood, 2013). As in this concept, the key to having compromise is the wide dispersal of power in which representatives with different views points must work together, the existence of authoritarian states and dictatorships could be seen as opposing the concept as a single power controls policy and decision-making for a community and is heavily biased towards the western political systems, equating politics which democracy and electoral votes.

The fourth angle presented is politics as power. This is the concept that politics is a system devised to help exercise power through decision-making, agenda-setting and thought control. This view is supported by Marxist and feminist individuals. In her book Sexual Politics, Kate Millet (1968, 23) states that politics are "power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another." In the context of feminism, this quote suggests that through the political system, those in office seek to perpetuate male, patriarchal power through laws and policies that control women's rights and bodies and are primarily made by men. Similarly in support of this view was the Marxists who thought that political power is promoted by the rich elites controlling the poor through the allocation of funds and laws. While power is an integral part of politics, it can be said that the power is not always held and exercised by those in the elite, as seen through protest and people campaigns where minorities have been able to change policies and mandates while facing governmental opposition such as in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, a student-led demonstration in Beijing against corruption in the Communist Party, at one point in the protest, an unnamed individual known pseudonymously as Tank Man temporarily stops the advance of a column of tanks, while the column of tanks can be seen as a form of power so can this individuals ability to stop them. 

In conclusion, there are several conceptions that can be applied while attempts to define politics, these conceptions are all accurate to an extent, which can help to further the understanding that politics is a many-sided concept. From my analysis of the conceptions, I would say that the conception of politics as compromise is the most pertinent. The reason for this is due to the western understanding of politics I have, as the primary feature of democracy tends to be compromise and I believe that it is important in preventing decisions from being made that do not reflect the interest of the majority as the wide dispersal of power that this conception inspires helps to prevent the setup of authoritarian leaders.