Politics

             "A political system is any persistent pattern of human relationships that involves, to a significant extent, power, rule, or authority." (Dahl, 2001, p.14) Politics, we all agree, is a fact of life. Some people rejoice in this, seeing in political participation and government the possibility of building a better society, or at least of fulfilling some of their personal goals. Others lament the fact, viewing politics as a corrupt and debasing activity that is largely devoid of principle and more likely to be harmful and meddlesome than socially beneficial. Then some neither rejoice. in nor lament the pervasiveness and character of politics, but who simply do not care one way or another. If they think about politics at all it is probably to reflect on how little difference they could make to what gets done, or how incomprehensible the whole affair seems. Retreat into indifferences or ignorance, or both, is their way of 'dealing' with political life.
             Politics arises from the fact of scarcity. In the real world it is not possible for all of us to satisfy all of our desires to the fullest extent. Limits on the stock of those things that people desire ensures that conflicts will take place between rival claimants. These conflicts explain why politics comes about. But politics is about more than the fact of conflict. It is also about how rival claims are settled. What distinguishes politics from the conflicts, struggles, and rivalries that take place in such settings as the family, the workplace, the economic marketplace, and social organizations such as churches and labour unions is the "public nature" of political disputes and the use of public authority – embodied in the state – to deal with them. Politics, then, is the activity by which rival claims are settled by public authorities. The boundaries of the political are defined by the scope of the state's authority to intervene in society.
             There is, perhaps, another reason for...

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Politics. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 09:30, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/84224.html