Lesson 1
WHAT IS POLITICS
-- Amaresh Ganguly
Zakir Husain College
After reading this lesson you will be familiar with:
• What is politics? .
• The different conceptual approaches on viewing politics.
Politics is the most important activity of organized life in society. If one tries to argue
that on a macro basis life without social or political thought is than one wrong.
Why and in what manner people behave in their economic and political activities, should
be systematically studied. That is what the study of politics seeks to do and political
behaviour is almost entirely linked to economic and social behaviour and interests and
vice-versa.
Nowadays young people often pompously declare: “I am not interested in politics”. To
them politics is some disreputable art of manipulating one’s way into positions of state
power for personal and party gains. And they don’t look forward to being called a
“politician” ever in their working lives. In fact the word has almost gradually become a
term of abuse.
As far as the concept of politics is really concerned this is a most naive and dumb notion.
Actually we are all politicians. In everything we say or do, we are taking a position that
is actually a political position whether we like it or not. For politics concerns everything
in life. What and whether you will be educated, what and whether you will get a job, how
much money you need to pay your bills and run your life and that of your family, how
much money you can or should earn and from it how much you need to and should
surrender in taxes to the state etc are all political questions. Should your education and
preparation in life be the same as of everybody else or should some people other than you
have more or less opportunities than you have? . Even whether what you call your
private property is or should be strictly your own or is or should be owned ultimately by
the whole of society and the nation and what rights you can or should have to dispose off
your property as you like are political questions. In other words one’s level of individual
and collective freedom, equality vis-à-vis others, justice, rights and duties are all part of
the realm of politics.
You are not living in a ‘no man’s land’ or in the middle of the ocean or on some planet in
outer space. You always exist within and under the jurisdiction of a state that has it’s own
set of laws, rules and policies with it’s own bias. So when you take the stance, as many
do, that you are only following the rules of the game and trying to live your life, that is
also a political position because that only means you have by your actions (by default)
accepted the status quo whatever it is. If you are advantaged in society relative to others
then you have accepted that deal (probably happily) and don’t want to touch politics for
1
,things are fine with you. If you are not advantaged on the other hand or you are exploited
or are otherwise getting a bad deal you have still accepted the state of affairs as they are
without trying to change your lot. So when you say you want to keep away from politics
and do nothing, you are actually taking a political position in favour of the system as it is.
If you do decide to do something then of course you are in politics in one form or the
other. Even if you don’t you still are in politics because you are helping the status quo to
prevail and be as it is by accepting it and working under it.
Frankly therefore whatever you do or you don’t is political one way or the other whether
you like it or not.
So you might as well start thinking and pondering politics systematically. How about
staring out by looking at how mankind has been thinking on politics conceptually from
earliest times to the present day. Then maybe you can decide for yourself what you think
politics is or more accurately what your politics is or should be? .
The route that the evolution of human thought took was substantially determined by
history. The political structures of the times often egged on the growth of some streams
of thought in political philosophy.
Generally politics has always been about state and government at it' s most basic and has
involved the study of formal political institutions such as parliament, executive, judiciary
and the bureaucracy etc. Politics is thus a science and art of government and the basic
political relationships: between state and individual and between states.
The Greek View
In fact the word politics itself has its origin in the Greek word polis, which means the
community or populace or society. Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle saw politics as
everything that is concerned with 'the general issues affecting the whole community'.
According tot the Greek view the participation of each and every citizen in the life of the
community is necessary for the self-realization of each human being. In fact Aristotle
argued he who did not live in a polis is to e considered 'either a God or a beast'. He also
commented that basically man is a political animal. It has to remembered that Greeks
were organised into small city states or communities where each and every male was a
citizen and attended parliament styled meetings for deciding the affairs of the community
and so the distinctions that we make nowadays between what is private for an individual
and what is public in his necessary relationships with the state and government organs
were not quite what they are today. So much of the Greek view has to be seen as
emanating from those circumstances and sociological realities. Thus in the Greek view all
behaviour of a citizen was his political stance and nothing was private. The Greeks also
stressed that the purpose of politics is to enable men to live together in a community and
also to lead a high moral life. Or in other words the aim of Politics was also to foster the
adoption and following of ethical goals leading to spiritual self-realization. Thus the
2
,Greek concept of politics included the study of man, society, state and ethics and the
subject was treated as a combination of religious and moral philosophy, metaphysics, a
course for civic training of citizens and a guide to power.
The View of Politics as Study of the State
With the decline of city-states of the Greek sort and the rise of large empires, beginning
with the Roman empire, the notion of politics inevitably began to be more and more
linked to the state. The idea of the state became accepted as the principal mode of human
organisation and developed with the rise of nation states particularly since the close of the
middle ages. Hence subjects like international law also became a part of part of politics.
The state, it became accepted would have monopoly of coercive power and the right to
enforce obedience using police and military force. The state in practice meant the
government because whatever was done in the name of the state was done by the
government and hence the study of government organs like and institutions became a part
of the study of politics. Also different forms of government like monarchy, aristocracy,
democracy, federalism also became a part of the study of the state. In the twentieth
century, the effect of public opinion, political parties and bureaucracy on government
institutions were also included. Works like Modern Democracies (1909) by Herman
Finer represented this trend.
Politics as a Dimension of the Social Process
It was realised over time that politics as a study of the state and institutions of the state
like the government bodies does not go deep enough into various aspects of the political
life of a citizen. The ordinary citizen and his political life is an interaction between him
and the society and polity of which he is a part. To understand politics therefore one has
to understand the whole social process and phenomenon.
To study politic as a social science and as a dimension of the social phenomenon and
social process however leads to divergent views. Different schools of thought view the
social process differently. Many people and thinkers at different times in history have
propounded on the social process of politics but the main schools of thought that have
made an impact are as follows: (a) The Liberal View (b) The Marxist View, (c) The
Common Good View and (d) The Study of Power View.
(a) The Liberal View - Politics as a Conciliation of Interests
The Liberal view evolved over time in Western Europe in the writings of thinkers like
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Bentham, J.S. Mill T.H. Green, Laski,
Barker, MacIver, J.B.D. Miller, Bernard Crick, Maurice Duverger etc. The main thrust of
this view is that man is a selfish self-interested being and in the pursuit of his selfish
goals is likely to clash and collide with other men resulting in disorder, indiscipline and
chaos. Politics is a part of the social process to manage and provide conciliation in such
3
, conflicts and thus for providing law and order, protection and security which according to
the liberal view constitutes the fundamentals of justice.
The liberal view as has been mentioned evolved over time. The early liberal view was
that only the individual human being with his self-interest, enterprise, desire for richness
and happiness and reason can be the foundation of a stable society. Thinkers like Thomas
Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith etc not just saw man as a selfish, egotistic being
concerned only with his own self-preservation and not a social or moral being, they even
argued, this was all for the best, because when everybody tries to promote his own selfish
interest, the utility or happiness of society as a whole, is maximised.
In the 20th Century (after the major competitive school of thought of Marxist thinking
had already made its appearance) the liberal view changed and thinkers like Bentley,
Truman, G.D.H Cole, Laski, MacIver etc suggested that society is not just composed of
self-interested individuals but also of interest groups that can be along the lines of social,
religious, cultural commercial, economic and political through which man fulfils his
interests and needs. However, like individuals, the groups themselves are also based upon
self-interest and competition. The groups and aggregate of groups are constantly in
competition and this competition is for the good of a free society and this competition
should be allowed but it should be seen that it does not lead to violence and chaos.
In the liberal view therefore fundamentally the individual is the real social entity and the
society is artificial. Hobbes for instance called society like a sack of corn with the corns
being the individuals who pursue their own interests. Bentham called society the creation
of a social contract between individuals who are after individual ends. MacPehrson
termed this concept of society the 'free market society', a meeting place of self-interested
individuals, a society based upon free will, competition and contract.
In this process however, liberalism acknowledges there are likely conflicts of various
kinds like between individuals, between group, between different economic classes,
between groups along lines of economic, geographic, cultural or ethnic etc. Liberalism
basically believes as has been mentioned above that the role of society is to mediate in
these disputes but later liberal writers like Green emphasised the social nature of man and
the need to get everybody to cooperate. Max Weber and Karl Mannheim also stressed on
the need for cooperation and in fact argued that for competition to benefit some
cooperation is essential without which chaos and violence would be the likely result.
Further it is important to see politics, the liberal view argued as the principal way of
reconciling conflicts in the process of competition and foster the essential cooperation.
Without the political process in the meeting place that is society there would an inevitable
breakdown of law and order. There is no harmony in society automatically without the
political process. The early liberal wanted free competition between individuals to prevail
with society only stepping in to set the rules of the game. But starting with the early
twentieth century, liberals veered to the view that if individuals, groups, classes are left
4
WHAT IS POLITICS
-- Amaresh Ganguly
Zakir Husain College
After reading this lesson you will be familiar with:
• What is politics? .
• The different conceptual approaches on viewing politics.
Politics is the most important activity of organized life in society. If one tries to argue
that on a macro basis life without social or political thought is than one wrong.
Why and in what manner people behave in their economic and political activities, should
be systematically studied. That is what the study of politics seeks to do and political
behaviour is almost entirely linked to economic and social behaviour and interests and
vice-versa.
Nowadays young people often pompously declare: “I am not interested in politics”. To
them politics is some disreputable art of manipulating one’s way into positions of state
power for personal and party gains. And they don’t look forward to being called a
“politician” ever in their working lives. In fact the word has almost gradually become a
term of abuse.
As far as the concept of politics is really concerned this is a most naive and dumb notion.
Actually we are all politicians. In everything we say or do, we are taking a position that
is actually a political position whether we like it or not. For politics concerns everything
in life. What and whether you will be educated, what and whether you will get a job, how
much money you need to pay your bills and run your life and that of your family, how
much money you can or should earn and from it how much you need to and should
surrender in taxes to the state etc are all political questions. Should your education and
preparation in life be the same as of everybody else or should some people other than you
have more or less opportunities than you have? . Even whether what you call your
private property is or should be strictly your own or is or should be owned ultimately by
the whole of society and the nation and what rights you can or should have to dispose off
your property as you like are political questions. In other words one’s level of individual
and collective freedom, equality vis-à-vis others, justice, rights and duties are all part of
the realm of politics.
You are not living in a ‘no man’s land’ or in the middle of the ocean or on some planet in
outer space. You always exist within and under the jurisdiction of a state that has it’s own
set of laws, rules and policies with it’s own bias. So when you take the stance, as many
do, that you are only following the rules of the game and trying to live your life, that is
also a political position because that only means you have by your actions (by default)
accepted the status quo whatever it is. If you are advantaged in society relative to others
then you have accepted that deal (probably happily) and don’t want to touch politics for
1
,things are fine with you. If you are not advantaged on the other hand or you are exploited
or are otherwise getting a bad deal you have still accepted the state of affairs as they are
without trying to change your lot. So when you say you want to keep away from politics
and do nothing, you are actually taking a political position in favour of the system as it is.
If you do decide to do something then of course you are in politics in one form or the
other. Even if you don’t you still are in politics because you are helping the status quo to
prevail and be as it is by accepting it and working under it.
Frankly therefore whatever you do or you don’t is political one way or the other whether
you like it or not.
So you might as well start thinking and pondering politics systematically. How about
staring out by looking at how mankind has been thinking on politics conceptually from
earliest times to the present day. Then maybe you can decide for yourself what you think
politics is or more accurately what your politics is or should be? .
The route that the evolution of human thought took was substantially determined by
history. The political structures of the times often egged on the growth of some streams
of thought in political philosophy.
Generally politics has always been about state and government at it' s most basic and has
involved the study of formal political institutions such as parliament, executive, judiciary
and the bureaucracy etc. Politics is thus a science and art of government and the basic
political relationships: between state and individual and between states.
The Greek View
In fact the word politics itself has its origin in the Greek word polis, which means the
community or populace or society. Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle saw politics as
everything that is concerned with 'the general issues affecting the whole community'.
According tot the Greek view the participation of each and every citizen in the life of the
community is necessary for the self-realization of each human being. In fact Aristotle
argued he who did not live in a polis is to e considered 'either a God or a beast'. He also
commented that basically man is a political animal. It has to remembered that Greeks
were organised into small city states or communities where each and every male was a
citizen and attended parliament styled meetings for deciding the affairs of the community
and so the distinctions that we make nowadays between what is private for an individual
and what is public in his necessary relationships with the state and government organs
were not quite what they are today. So much of the Greek view has to be seen as
emanating from those circumstances and sociological realities. Thus in the Greek view all
behaviour of a citizen was his political stance and nothing was private. The Greeks also
stressed that the purpose of politics is to enable men to live together in a community and
also to lead a high moral life. Or in other words the aim of Politics was also to foster the
adoption and following of ethical goals leading to spiritual self-realization. Thus the
2
,Greek concept of politics included the study of man, society, state and ethics and the
subject was treated as a combination of religious and moral philosophy, metaphysics, a
course for civic training of citizens and a guide to power.
The View of Politics as Study of the State
With the decline of city-states of the Greek sort and the rise of large empires, beginning
with the Roman empire, the notion of politics inevitably began to be more and more
linked to the state. The idea of the state became accepted as the principal mode of human
organisation and developed with the rise of nation states particularly since the close of the
middle ages. Hence subjects like international law also became a part of part of politics.
The state, it became accepted would have monopoly of coercive power and the right to
enforce obedience using police and military force. The state in practice meant the
government because whatever was done in the name of the state was done by the
government and hence the study of government organs like and institutions became a part
of the study of politics. Also different forms of government like monarchy, aristocracy,
democracy, federalism also became a part of the study of the state. In the twentieth
century, the effect of public opinion, political parties and bureaucracy on government
institutions were also included. Works like Modern Democracies (1909) by Herman
Finer represented this trend.
Politics as a Dimension of the Social Process
It was realised over time that politics as a study of the state and institutions of the state
like the government bodies does not go deep enough into various aspects of the political
life of a citizen. The ordinary citizen and his political life is an interaction between him
and the society and polity of which he is a part. To understand politics therefore one has
to understand the whole social process and phenomenon.
To study politic as a social science and as a dimension of the social phenomenon and
social process however leads to divergent views. Different schools of thought view the
social process differently. Many people and thinkers at different times in history have
propounded on the social process of politics but the main schools of thought that have
made an impact are as follows: (a) The Liberal View (b) The Marxist View, (c) The
Common Good View and (d) The Study of Power View.
(a) The Liberal View - Politics as a Conciliation of Interests
The Liberal view evolved over time in Western Europe in the writings of thinkers like
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith, Bentham, J.S. Mill T.H. Green, Laski,
Barker, MacIver, J.B.D. Miller, Bernard Crick, Maurice Duverger etc. The main thrust of
this view is that man is a selfish self-interested being and in the pursuit of his selfish
goals is likely to clash and collide with other men resulting in disorder, indiscipline and
chaos. Politics is a part of the social process to manage and provide conciliation in such
3
, conflicts and thus for providing law and order, protection and security which according to
the liberal view constitutes the fundamentals of justice.
The liberal view as has been mentioned evolved over time. The early liberal view was
that only the individual human being with his self-interest, enterprise, desire for richness
and happiness and reason can be the foundation of a stable society. Thinkers like Thomas
Hobbes, John Locke, Adam Smith etc not just saw man as a selfish, egotistic being
concerned only with his own self-preservation and not a social or moral being, they even
argued, this was all for the best, because when everybody tries to promote his own selfish
interest, the utility or happiness of society as a whole, is maximised.
In the 20th Century (after the major competitive school of thought of Marxist thinking
had already made its appearance) the liberal view changed and thinkers like Bentley,
Truman, G.D.H Cole, Laski, MacIver etc suggested that society is not just composed of
self-interested individuals but also of interest groups that can be along the lines of social,
religious, cultural commercial, economic and political through which man fulfils his
interests and needs. However, like individuals, the groups themselves are also based upon
self-interest and competition. The groups and aggregate of groups are constantly in
competition and this competition is for the good of a free society and this competition
should be allowed but it should be seen that it does not lead to violence and chaos.
In the liberal view therefore fundamentally the individual is the real social entity and the
society is artificial. Hobbes for instance called society like a sack of corn with the corns
being the individuals who pursue their own interests. Bentham called society the creation
of a social contract between individuals who are after individual ends. MacPehrson
termed this concept of society the 'free market society', a meeting place of self-interested
individuals, a society based upon free will, competition and contract.
In this process however, liberalism acknowledges there are likely conflicts of various
kinds like between individuals, between group, between different economic classes,
between groups along lines of economic, geographic, cultural or ethnic etc. Liberalism
basically believes as has been mentioned above that the role of society is to mediate in
these disputes but later liberal writers like Green emphasised the social nature of man and
the need to get everybody to cooperate. Max Weber and Karl Mannheim also stressed on
the need for cooperation and in fact argued that for competition to benefit some
cooperation is essential without which chaos and violence would be the likely result.
Further it is important to see politics, the liberal view argued as the principal way of
reconciling conflicts in the process of competition and foster the essential cooperation.
Without the political process in the meeting place that is society there would an inevitable
breakdown of law and order. There is no harmony in society automatically without the
political process. The early liberal wanted free competition between individuals to prevail
with society only stepping in to set the rules of the game. But starting with the early
twentieth century, liberals veered to the view that if individuals, groups, classes are left
4
