The Meaning of Politics
Politics is derived from the Greek work polis which means city-state, a small independent self-contained political society. Politics is the activity of people where they create, preserve and amend laws under which they live. According to Laswell (1935), ‘politics is the process of who gets what, when and how.’ Thus, politics is the process of allocating the scarce resources, where the elite or the mass compete over scarce resource, that is: wealth, status and power, through democratic means (election) or by force.
Politics as the art of government. Politics is what defines the activities of the government and of the state. All government officials and all those working in the government are participating in politics. Their agreement or disagreement to a particular issue is an important activity in politics. Politicians making promises or not, doing for the people or not is politics. Thus, those who are not working in the government are not involved in politics.
Politics as public affair. Politics is played by everybody, politicians or not. An individual’s perception on the issue about the need of lawmakers to have “pork barrel” is politics (public sphere of life). An individual decision not to participate in the election because of a very long line in the precinct is still politics (private sphere). In Politics, Aristotle said that “man by nature is a political animal;” this means that it is only within a political community that human beings can live the good life. Thus, politics becomes necessary to create a just society.
Politics as compromise and consensus. Politics is meant to resolve conflict. In politics, compromise, conciliation and negotiation become necessary. It is through these means that issues and problems are being resolved. Thus, politics becomes the process of conflict resolution.
Politics as power. Politics is everywhere like when people play badminton, ride jeepney, fall in line and others. Politics happens in all human interactions: within the family, among friends, among officemates, etc. Politics can, therefore, be seen as struggle over scarce resources, and power can be seen as the means through which this struggle is conducted.
Politics and Political Science
In the traditional point of view, political science as an academic discipline deals with the theoretical study of the State and government while politics focuses its study on the actual actions or decisions of the state. Thus, a political scientist observe how the state makes decision, and how the state’s decision affects people. Furthermore, politics is concerned with issues, problems and activities of the state while political science is concerned on how the state originated, its nature and functions.
In the modern perspective, political science studies politics. The state and government are the key factor in the study of political science and politics. Thus, political science cannot be differentiated from politics.
Importance of Politics
Everybody should consider themselves as key players in the State. Although there are certain actors in the state that hold the key role, citizens should take part in identifying, understanding and acting for or against the State. Listening or reading information on politicians stand about divorce, for example, will greatly affect the turn of events. According to Aristotle ‘politics and political community must play in bringing about the virtues life in the citizenry,” he believes that citizens must actively participate in politics if they are to be happy and virtuous. In studying politics, the people will have an idea on how people in the state should relate to each other, thus, making it possible for people to be aware of the roles that they play, making life in its state happier.
Moreover, politics helps people understand how they should live together and emphasizes the importance of individuals right within that large group of people. Politics provides opportunity to the underprivileged sector of the society to have access in education, livelihood, shelter and others. Nobody is exempted in politics. All are participating, directly or indirectly.
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