WhatIsPolitics.pptVIP

Niccolo Machiavelli defines politics as simply a struggle for power. Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th-century British prime minister wrote that “politics are the possession and distribution of power.” V. O. Key, Jr., equated politics with “the process and practice of ruling” and the “workings of governments generally, their impact on the governed, their manner of operation, the means by which governors attain and retain authority.” Politics – the process through which a community, state, or organization organizes and governs itself. Not exclusively about power. Hauss text. Many definitions possible? That politics is the government, or the law, or the various political institutions that formulate, implement and adjudicate laws and regulations. Others might answer that politics involves or revolves around notions of power, authority, and conflict. Since politics encompasses so much or includes so many different types of issues and experiences, it has been difficult for the discipline to agree on one single definition. Harold Laswell: politics is the process that determines who gets what, when and how. David Easton: politics is the authoritative allocation of values for a society. They delimit or broaden the scope of politics beyond just the study of governmental institutions or the study of the law. Laswells definition of politics could apply to more than just government institutions or the law. Eastons definition important because it suggests that more than government and its institutions are involved in the decision making process, and that values underlie all political decisions. Rather, both suggest that politics is a process, and that process is to be determined by scholarly research to define what constitutes politics. There are very few universal political institutions, or types of governments or laws that have exactly the same effect in one country as another. This is due to the varying influence of different political values across countries. In other words, it