What is Politics

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What is Politics?

In its broadest sense, politics concerns the way in which people interact  how they make decisions and settle disputes. It is, therefore, concerned with power and the way in which power is distributed in society. Whilst power is most obviously held by the government and its agents, it is not exclusively held by them. Decisions are made at many different levels. Politics therefore operates at many different levels.

People as social beings.

People are social beings. They choose to live together in groups. Because people live together in groups, there is a need to make decisions  about how the resources available to the group are to be shared out, for example, or how conflicts which arise within the group are to be resolved. The study of politics is the study of how such decisions are made. It may also be the study of how such decisions should be made.

Since the resources available to any group are limited, questions inevitably arise about how the resources which are available should be distributed. Should everybody have an equal share, for example, or do some people deserve a bigger share than others?

Since it is possible to increase the resources available to a group (by conquest, technological advance or better management of existing resources), further questions arise. For example, what (if any) strategy should be employed to increase resources and what is the best way to protect the resources which already exist? Since there is no single correct answer to such questions, different people have different ideas about what is the best action to take. According to some commentators, the conflict which arises from the expression of different views is at the heart of politics. The study of politics is the study of conflict resolution.

a) Politics as the study of conflict resolution.

Modern society is highly complex. individuals argue over many different interests, values and beliefs. Conflict does not just take place between individuals, however. It also exists between larger groups between countries as well as within them. According to one viewpoint, the aim of politics is to remove conflict so that people can live in reasonable harmony with each other. In other words, the aim of politics is to produce consensus  a broad agreement over what people want and what they believe is right.

Conflict.

So, politics is about conflict. In Britain the Conservative and Labour Parties embody the disagreements between conservatives and socialists. In the USA political divisions are between the Republican and Democratic Parties or in Germany between the CDU (the Christian Democrats) and the SPD (the Social Democrats).

Conflicts in non-democratic countries.

Even in undemocratic countries politics is present. Military leaders who stage a coup in order to wrest a country from the control of politicians might ban political parties, democracy and freedom of speech, but they are not abolishing politics. They are merely changing the context of politics and divisions, argument and conflict will now occur between the army and the navy or within the army.

The example of the Soviet Union.

In the former Soviet Union many observers saw the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a monolythic party in which there was no disagreement. No other parties were allowed to exist, so they concluded that there was no political competition. Of course there was, but it took place behind closed doors, within the party; for example the struggle between Stalin and Trotsky in the 1920s or Brezhnev and Krushchev in the 1960s.

So, politics will be with us so long as people continue to disagree!

In general terms, it can be argued that conflict arises for two main reasons. First, it arises because of conflicting interests. And second, it arises because of conflicting values or beliefs.

Conflicting interests.

In a country such as Britain there is a complex web of interests which people want to expand and protect. Many of these interests are economic and financial. People want a job with good pay, a comfortable house, holidays and so on. They want a good education for their children, health care and security against poverty. Miners want a prosperous coal industry. Publishers want people to buy lots of books.

Although many of the interests, such as the desire for a good health system, are common to all people, difficulties and disagreement emerge because resources are limited and different people have different priorities. Some people might want more money to be spent on hightech machinery in hospitals, for example, whilst others want more nurses to be employed at a better rate of pay. Since there may not be the resources to take both approaches, choices have to be made. It is the necessity of making such choices which leads to conflict.

How to spend resources?

As resources are scarce, choices must be made about how they should be spent. Both defence and education are vital to the health of a country but how do you strike the correct balance? Some might say that priority rests with a well financed education system; well paid teachers, good buildings, lots of new books. However other would say that for national security defence cannot be neglected. Unfortunately defence is an expensive business; tanks, planes and ships all cost a great deal of money and so other areas must lose out. This is conflict between two view points that must be resolved.

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Who gets what?

Resources are also distributed unevenly between different individuals; some are very rich with large houses, big cars and high incomes. Others are incredibly poor with insecure employment, if any, poor life chances and low income. Is this distribution of resources fair? Some, usually Conservatives, would say that it was, that those who work hard should keep their wealth and that differences in wealth provide incentives to work hard and aspire to greater achievements. Others, usually on the left of politics, such as Socialists or Communists believe that inequalities of resources are morally wrong and that ...

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