DEFINING POLITICS

I. Conflicts in defining politics

1. The study of politics leads one to infer how broad and contentious it appears to be,
which explains why there is no general agreement as to which should be the major
definition, or at least which is superior to another.
If there are rivaling conception of politics, which is
 Politics being encompassing – As pointed out by Heywood, politics is a very loaded
term, it could be associated to other fields of study such as economics and history.
 Politics being essentially contested – Another major conflict when defining politics is
the numerous disparate definitions proposed by many notable political scientists that
rival one another.
As the political realm is primarily associated with the government, politics as a
process remains to be overlooked by a commoner and looks more interested on the
course of action that’s transpires in politics as an arena. On the other hand, scholars,
while being considerably knowledgeable of public affairs and the government, they are
intellectually superior of political processes contrary to commoners.

2. Politics in the perspective of commoners – When it comes to politics, their interest

resides more on how the government enforces laws, contributes to the lives of its
constituents, or extend their help to the marginalized, they are primarily enticed by
legitimate execution of action of the government. Most likely actions that benefit
themselves, a shallow gratification from politics seeing only the superficial angles of
the matter.

3. Politics in the perspective of scholars – From a scholar’s perspective, the political

processes are subsumed in their knowledge as well, being highly aware of how and
why the government came up with such decisions, whether politicians exercise
power due to nobility or it is mainly driven by personal interests. Such keen
perspective on political events require so much of critical thinking and penetration to
the political spectrum.
II. Prominent Definitions of Politics
1. Andrew Heywood: Politics is the activity through which people make, preserve and
amend the general rules under which they live – From heywood’s standpoint, it is
worth noting that the people are major players in deciding which is optimal for the
entirety of their community. An empowerment for the people and most probably
manifests in strong democracies where consensus remains significant and majority
of the citizens concur to altruistic decisions.
2. Harold Laswell: Who Gets What, When and How. – However, for Laswell, politics is
about who

III. Conclusion