What is Politics – HowForKids

Politics is an activity ideologically oriented towards the decision-making by a group to achieve certain objectives. It can also be defined as a way of wield power with the intention of resolving or minimizing the clash between the conflicting interests that occur within a society.

The use of the term gained popularity in the 5th century BC c. By then, Aristotle developed his work titled precisely “Policy”.

Article Topics

Origin of the word politics
His story
policy exercise
The inner and the outer
left and right in politics
The influence of Plato and Aristotle
Other intellectuals and politics
More meanings of the term
Related Topics Tree

If you only have a few seconds, read these key points:

Politics comes from the Greek word polis and its beginnings go back to the Neolithic.
Democracy is a popular form of political organization in recent decades.
Political parties carry out the exercise of politics in groups.
Political theories and ideologies are divided into two large groups: left and right.
Politics is understood as the art of integration and not just domination.

Origin of the word politics

Table of Contents

The origin of the word politics comes from the Greek word copswhose meaning refers to the Greek cities that formed the States where the government it was partly democratic. It should be noted that it is in this culture where the human need to organize social life and governments tries to be formalized.

If we look for the definition of the term in the Dictionary of Social Sciences We will see that this is the name given to political action itself, while political It can be used to adjective an element related to it: political power, political action, etc. For his part, he DRAE He mentions it as the art of governing peoples and the aforementioned adjectives, as something related to politics.

See also: The Renaissance for students

His story

It is considered that the beginnings of the policy go back to the Neolithic, when society begins to organize itself in a hierarchical system and certain individuals acquire power over the rest. Before, power simply resided in the one with the greatest physical strength or the most intelligent in a group. Some theorists say that this type of organization could also be considered a form of politics, so that there we would fall into the definition that politics is as old as humanity itself.

The political systems of antiquity were generally absolutist, since all power was in the hands of a single subject. In Greece, there were also some polis where a partial democracy was practiced and assemblies were held. From the French Revolution the political scheme underwent an important change, where a fundamental element was the Constitution of the USA. From that moment, regimes with democratic characteristics were established, where decision-making responds to the general will.

Democracy is the form of political organization that has gained the most popularity in recent decades. It is based on a State administration elected by majority based on the stipulations of a Constitution likewise approved by the people, which exercises partial and organizational power and whose objective is to represent the citizens’ ideas. This is so in theory, but in practice it is rarely carried out in the desired way, because it is difficult for politicians to put aside their particular interests to look after those of all the people.

Policy exercise

The exercise of politics is usually carried out in groups known as political parties. When there are elections in a democratic regime, these parties propose candidates who aspire to win the vote and thus assume the representation of the people in the Executive power (headed by the president or prime minister) or the Legislative power (Congress, Parliament, Senate, etc.).

The public administration contemplates a separation of powers that also includes the Power of attorney. However, in this case officials are not usually elected by the population.

The Electoral campaigns they allow parties to disseminate their proposals through propaganda and political publicity. Debates are often organized between the different candidates so that citizens can analyze their projects. Before the elections themselves, it is customary to hold surveys to anticipate the voting intention of the voters.

The inner and the outer

What is known as domestic policy It covers all the measures that affect the inhabitants of the State: the definition of fiscal policy, the management of the economy, decision-making related to education and public health and other issues depends on the rulers. Broadly speaking, it can be said that the task of the one who assumes the management of the government consists of seeking agreements to favor the well-being of the community as a whole.

The foreign policy, on the other hand, is that oriented to international relations. Diplomacy is the basis of this area that usually includes negotiations and alliances to address global problems such as climate change, immigration policy and terrorism.

Left and right in politics

There are multiple aspects of political theories and ideologies, which can be summarized in two large groups. On the one hand, we find the left-wing politics (As the socialism and the communism), mainly related to social equality.

On the other hand there are right-wing politics (As the liberalism and the conservatism), who defend the right to private property and the free market.

The influence of Plato and Aristotle

For centuries, attempts have been made to explain the concept of politics and the ways in which it should be carried out. Among the most important documents are those of Plato and Aristotle. The first, in his work “The Republic”states that the way in which a people should be governed was through the observation of reality and the testing of idealistic changes and improvements, and that said work should be in charge of the wisest beings of that society.

For his part, Aristotle He proposed a scientific approach to politics, where social analysis was carried out taking psychological, cultural and social elements into account and establishing cause and effect relationships. In addition, he expressed the need to create a middle class that would attenuate the existing gap between the richest and the poorest. Notably, he also published a work called «The Republic”.

Other intellectuals and politics

In 1970 was Antonio Gramsci who, based on the old definitions, tried to give an answer to the true raison d’être of politics. He explained that the State must be conceived as if it were an organism belonging to the group that it must represent in order to expand it as much as possible, but that its development must be contemplated within the expansions of the rest of the nations.

He also said that it is reasonable for there to be a group that exercises hegemony, but that this should not “get out of hand”to the point of achieving a society governed by a system whose only interest is the economic-corporate. In this treatise, we can understand that war and violence as means to achieve objectives should not be considered viable.

Also Edgar morin and Anne Brigitte Kern have tried to understand it, offering precious treatises on art and political science. They raise it with a multidimensional character that arises from the awareness of citizens and contemplates issues such as the meaning of life of our species, the development of societies, the economic systems we use and even the life and death of humanity and the extinction of the planet we inhabit. Both tried to address a policy more committed to the environment, a policy of responsibility with our environment: a multidimensional but not totalitarian policy.

Among his proposals to carry out this undertaking, are working towards the associative and combating what is dissociative, arguing that emancipation cannot have as its goal the isolation or rupture of pre-existing relationships, but rather the implementation of a common goal that requires associative work. The second thing they propose is to seek a particular universality, taking special care to opt for an interest that at first glance seems universal but encompasses an individual need. Universality can be achieved through a series of actions aimed at protecting our concrete universe.

It is important to clarify that all the theories agree on one thing: that political activity can only become a reality through the establishment of legal rules that establish what should or can be done and what not in a certain territory.

The discipline in charge of the study of political activities is called Politic sciencethe professionals in this science they receive the nickname of political scientists and persons holding or aspiring to professional positions held by the State are defined as politicians.

More meanings of the term

To finish we will share some other ways that the meaning of this word receives.

Politics can be understood as a set of ideas, convictions or social actions that are related to public issues or related to power. Politics is also discussed when referring to a group of rulers and their relationship with the group they govern.

In legal terms, it is called in three possible ways: as a set of activities carried out by a group and that allow the creation, planning and exercise of power over another; as the struggle and opposition that must be carried out by a small group to dominate a larger one; and finally, as an activity whose raison d’être is to achieve a precise end: the common good (everything must be carried out with the aim of achieving peace through methods that do not include violence).

Some theories on politics affirm that it should not be important to solve how the power-dominance relationshipbut in what ways can the integration of the parts of the group be understood,…