Politics

Politics is a social interaction. Never a monologue, always a dialogue.

Aristotle: "Man is by nature a political animal."

Conflict and cooperation is always part of politics. People decide what rules they wish to live under, thus there is conflict and cooperation.

Diverse opinions and diverse needs against scarcity ensures that politics is forever a human condition.

Different views on politics:

• politics as the art of government
• politics as public affairs
• politics as compromise and consensus
• politics as power and the distribution of resources

Competing views on what is public and what is private:

• Public - The state, apparatus of government
• Private - Civil society, autonomous bodies, businesses, trade unions, clubs, families and so on

• Public - Public realm, politics, commerce, work, art, culture and so on
• Private - Personal realm, family and domestic life

Bernard Crick in "In Defense of Politics"; Politics is the activity by which differing interests within a given unit of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to the welfare and the survival of the whole community.

Model of the political system developed by David Easton

    ┌ ←                      ← Outputs ←                     ← ┐
    ↓                                                                        ↑
People → Inputs → Gatekeepers → Inputs → Government
    ↑                                                                        ↓
    └ ←                      ← Outputs ←                     ←┘

According to David Easton the gatekeepers are the political parties and interest groups