Beyond The Ballot Box
The transition from pre-election excitement to post-election politics has been a turbulent one. But where do we go from here? The deciding vote is unencumbered and the result is unfaltering: a pivotal change to the UK’s leadership. What starts as a concise mark in the ballot box, signaling an alignment to a specific idea, person or party, leads to the instigation of change, and how we navigate this is not quite so clear. Regardless of your political position, interpreting politics is where the hard work really begins, and not just for the newly elected government.
While not everybody may need support in this endevour, many (myself included) may find politics somewhat of a minefield; deciphering the important parts of political discourse can be downright difficult. With the Oxford English Dictionary depicting nine variations in meaning, is it any wonder we’re confused? Let’s take a closer look at the word itself.
Greek City Matters
Politics originated in Ancient Greek, meaning ‘affairs of the cities’. It began with a somewhat broad definition encompassing anything relating to the state, or that considered social or public. Critics argue that such wide-ranging definitions are problematic, and result in such a dilution of the word that it ceases to retain any meaning. This certainly resonated with me; politics is everywhere and nowhere, everything and nothing, all at once. It surrounds us, yet there is a distinct lack of tangibility to it. Arendt (2005) suggests just this: there is no definitive nature or essence to politics, it emerges through interactions, individual actions and perspectives which are organised into collectives.
That being the case, politics is about potential. Ideas, discourse and actions alone cannot be considered ‘political’, but they all have the potential to be, depending on circumstances, perceptions and intentions. Other arguably ‘defining’ features are linked to that considered ‘public’, ‘social’, and related to ‘governing’, which on the one hand helps to identify what could be considered political, but on the other, exacerbates the issue by introducing additional broad terms which offer unsubstantial grounds for pinning down politics.
The Science
However, political science is dedicated to solving this problem. In Harold D Lasswell’s 1936 publication, he embraces the wide definition and critically discusses what makes politics. Fundamentally, Politics: Who gets What, When, How? demonstrates that politics is any interaction among individuals, groups or institutions attempting to make a collective choice or solve a collective problem. Such interactions typically involve governments, which is why political science examines them closely.
Can You Truly Define Politics?
However, this is still relatively broad in terms of defining politics, but perhaps that is its quintessential element. In fact, would we, the general public, really benefit from knowing the intricacies of political parties, their ideologies and their frameworks? We may be more informed on an academic level, but Laswell’s terminology, who, when and how is somewhat poetically simplistic, and perhaps this is how we should think about it. You need not be a political scientist to take a view on your government, and how it decides who gets what, when and how. Rather, it’s our opinions, values and beliefs on our governments’ choices which make people so fundamental to politics.
References
Mansfield, Harvey. 2007. How to Understand Politics by Harvey Mansfield
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Jessica Lucas is a qualified English Language teaching professional and specialises in educational content creation.
