MODULE 1

The Concept of Politics and Governance

Topics:

1. Define Politics and Governance.

2. Discuss the concepts of Politics.

3. Define and Discuss the approaches to the study of politics.

4. Appreciate the Importance of Governance

Politics in General

The word “politics” comes from the Greek word “polis” which means “city-state.” In the

ancient world, city-states are small countries regarded as centers of culture and

civilization where people interact under a unified government. What transpires in the

polis is politics. The origin of the word therefore suggests that politics is a term

encompassing the totality of human activities transpiring within the city-state. As it is

applied now, it denotes everything that transpires in the state as well as among states.

It denotes a social activity. It is in essence the interaction of individuals. As the Greek

philosopher Aristotle explains, it is the master science through which individuals

collectively set structure, purpose, and ideals in their lives. Politics, therefore, does not

emerge from the activities of a single individual but from that of many.

Politics is about conflict and cooperation. On the one hand, conflict is caused by the

diversity among individuals. People differ in the way they perceive things and disagree

in almost every conceivable aspect of life. On the other hand, cooperation is motivated
by men’s common goal of achieving a happy life. While it is true that men argue and

fight, it is also undeniable that they desire for peace. The process of overcoming conflict

to attain order and thereafter maintain that order is politics. In other words, politics is

essentially conflict resolution.

Politics is the creation, maintenance, and amendment of societal norms or rules. While

politics as conflict resolution aims at establishing order in the society, the basis of order

today is law. Undeniably, religion and other archaic institutions have already lost their

central role as sources of order. It is law now that serves as the undisputed order-

establishing institution. Modern states and international organizations rely on the

adequacy and efficacy of their laws to meet the demands of the people to attain

domestic and international peace. Politics therefore, in its broad sense means conflict

resolution through the creation, maintenance, and amendment of societal norms or

rules.

Definition of Politics

It must first be pointed out that politics is a vague term. As a matter of fact, scholars and

authorities in the field cannot agree on a common definition of politics. The term

includes so many concepts that it could mean almost anything (or everything). The

descriptions above, for example, are overly broad and may overlap with the meaning of

other sciences. Even worse, its vagueness 6 made it readily associable to “deception,

manipulation and corruption” so that its modern day connotation is simply everything

that is “dirty.” From this perspective, the definition of politics will always be contestable.

The following definitions therefore will only serve as starting points, and the meaning of

politics will eventually be understood in the details of later discussions. Politics is the
science of government. As a science, it is a systematic body of knowledge (for the most

part, practical) that deals with the government and regulation, maintenance and

development, and defense and augmentation of the state. It also deals with the

protection of the rights of its citizens, safeguarding and enhancement of morals, and

harmony and peace of human relations.

However, other political scientists prefer to define politics as the art, rather than the

science, of government. It is an art because it involves the exercise of control or

authority within the society through the creation and enforcement of consensus arrived

at by the leaders. It involves the process through which the government skillfully

addresses the needs of the society by carefully allocating benefits, rewards, and

penalties. This is what David Easton means when he defined politics as the

“authoritative allocation of values.” Under this definition, politics takes place only within

the polity or the machinery of the government. In other words, only the processes and

events that happen in the government bureaus, departments, and offices are said to be

“political” while those outside, like businesses, religion, and family, are “non-political.” It

is in this sense also that politicians and political parties are said to be “political” while

civil society is said to be non-political. Politics is the realm of public affairs or the state.

Traditionally, “public” refers to the institution of the state which is funded by the people

at large through their taxes to satisfy their common interest. This is contrasted to

“private” which refers to the civil society that is privately funded to support their own

interest. As the Greek used the term, state transactions (public) characterize the term

political. When the Greek philosopher Aristotle said “man by nature is a political animal,”

he means that man is naturally inclined to live in a society. Aside from his private life,
man must have a public life, for this perfects his essence and gives him the “good life.”

In addition, the social theorists even argued that the common good could only be

attained through the active participation of the citizens. Education as well as moral and

intellectual enlightenment, are among the few things that result from the public life. It

must be noted that while there is a dichotomy of public life and private life, these two are

intimately connected in that they mutually depend on each other. And under this

traditional sense, politics (realm of the public/state) is intertwined with ethics (realm of

the private/individual).

Politics is who gets what, when, and how. This is the famous definition of Harold

Lasswell. The definition underscores the reality of “scarcity” in the society. While human

needs and wants are so diverse and numerous, the resources are always limited. The

struggle involved in allocating the scarce resources, and determining what to produce,

how to distribute, and use them is said to be politics. Modern political theories conform

to this definition as it establishes the unique connection of politics and power. Power

creates structures and explains the struggle among individuals or groups of individuals.

It is in this sense that politics deviates from ethics inasmuch as any means could be

used to get whatever is desired and whenever it is desired for as long as it serves the

purpose. According to Ponton and Gill, politics is the way in which social affairs are

understood and ordered, and by which people acquire greater control over the situation.

The definition puts to light the different political ideologies and philosophies that underlie

societal structures. “Order” and the “understanding of reality” are shaped by the political

orientation of the people. That by which people view and organize the world is said to

be politics. Without politics, there is anarchy and a state of constant war. But its
existence establishes order in various forms. It gives rise to different kinds of

governments: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. That the society should be ruled

by a single individual, by a selected few, or by all is a matter of preference that depends

on the temperament of the affected group of people. What is important is that politics

helps the people acquire greater control over the vagaries of their existence.

From the foregoing definitions, it could be seen that politics could be defined in either of

two senses: first, as associated to an “arena” or place, and second, as a “process.” In

the first sense, something is said to be political if it transpires in any of the apparatuses

of the government.

Basic Concepts: Order, Power, and Justice

To explain further the meaning of politics it is very helpful to dwell on political concepts,

models, and theories. Concepts are general or universal ideas shared by people.

Models refer to networks of ideas that seek to explain political realities. And theories

refer to series of models which aim to systemically and empirically explain political

realities. These are intimately connected because one leads to another – concepts lead

to the formation of models, and models to theories.

Order

1. Order is central to the study of politics because it shows the different components of

human societies. Politics after all exists in diverse forms or levels of societal structures.

These structures or orders are community, government, and state: (a) Community is

one kind of social order which refers to an association of individuals who share a

common identity. This identity is formed by the unique circumstances surrounding the
group of individuals like geography, history, philosophy, religion, ideology, language,

race, and allegiance. The cause of its existence is primarily protection of individuals.

Economic prosperity, cultural enrichment and other social functions are only offshoots of

the same.

(b) Government is a higher level of social order that exists primarily for the maintenance

and perpetuation of the community. It is said to possess “sovereignty” if it can

successfully assert its claim to rule. And it is said to “legitimate” if its claim to rule

(authority) is willingly accepted. It has the following forms: Monarchy, Aristocracy, and

Democracy. Monarchy is a kind of government in which one man (king) noted for his

noble lineage and honor is vested with the right to rule and control the society. If this

man pursues his own selfish interest instead of the common good, this form of

government may turn into a “Tyranny.” Aristocracy is another kind of government in

which a selected few who are known for their wealth and education have the right to

rule. If this selected few pursue their own personal interests, it becomes an “Oligarchy.”

And lastly, democracy is the rule by the people, for the people, and of the people. If this

form of government downgrades into the rule of people’s passions instead of reason

and law, it becomes “Demagoguery” or “Mobocracy.” Philippines has a democratic

government.

(c) State is the largest social order today and in which the term politics is originally

derived. It refers to a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently

occupying a definite portion of territory, having a government of their own to which the

great body of inhabitants render obedience, and enjoying freedom from external control.

As a political concept, it has undergone many developments and its discussion still
occupies the very heart of the study of politics. A separate chapter will be devoted for its

discussion.

Power

The different social orders cannot be maintained without power. Their creation and

perpetuation are brought about by the exercise of power and the concomitant

establishment of structures. It is elementary to know that power has many sources

aside from physical force. These include wealth, culture, diplomatic relations and

intelligence, to name a few. The basic rule is that the more abundant the power source,

the greater the capabilities of the government. In a narrower sense, power implies

“power over” people rather than the “power or ability to” do something. This includes

influence over the behavior of others, making them do things which they would not

otherwise have done. Under such meaning of power, politics involves manipulation

through the popular methods of reward and punishment. Political scientists and

philosophers, like Niccolo Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche, grounded their political

treatises on the concept of power. They explained the nature of politics by studying the

essence of power.

Justice

It is said that the correct exercise of power produces justice. If in the exercise of its

power and authority, the government gives what the people need, protect and respect

their rights, and put the common good over and above the personal interest of the

leaders, then there is said to be justice. It must be highlighted that the embodiment of
order and power in this modern times is law, whether written or customary. Thus, law is

said to be the approximation of justice. Justice is that on which law is anchored.

However, since law is a mere “approximation” of the ideal concept of justice, it is never

perfect. Sometimes the law becomes unjust because it can no longer capture perfect

justice. An innocent person, for instance, may be convicted, or a perpetrator may be

acquitted of a crime because of the technicalities and restrictions of the law on

evidence. Nevertheless, law must still be upheld since it is still the best medium of

justice and by which power may be exercised correctly for the promotion of societal

order. APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICS

There are two basic approaches to study politics: political philosophy and political

science. On the one hand, political philosophy is the traditional approach in which the

primary goal is to understand the essence or truth about politics. This approach aims to

establish what politics ought to be. As such, it is normative or prescriptive, analytical,

speculative, and essentially ethical. It is normative or prescriptive because it prescribes

standards or rules of conduct; it establishes what “ought to be” the nature of politics and

not “what it simply is.” Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are among the proponents of this

approach. It is analytical because the approach is to a large extent an examination and

literary analysis of the various classic writings of intellectuals and philosophers such as

Confucius, Lao tzu, Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Machiavelli,

Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx, to name some. It is speculative because it entails

abstract, theoretical and not scientific explanations of the varied subjects of politics. And

it is essentially ethical because the approach basically presumes that ethics is the

foundation of politics; the ethical formation of the individual is a condition precedent the
society’s political formation. The questions raised under this approach are “what is the

essence of politics?”, “what is the ideal type of government?”, “who should be and what

are the attributes of a ruler?”, “what are the limits of the government?”, and “what are

rights and limits of individual freedom?”

On the other hand, political science is the empirical approach in which it places little

emphasis on abstract and normative questions, and concentrates on a dispassionate

and objective description of the realities of politics. As such, it is descriptive, empirical,

objective, and it avoids ethics. It is descriptive because it simply establishes “what

politics is” and not “what it ought to be;” it describes the political phenomenon but does

not prescribe standards or rules of conduct. It is empirical because it studies only

observable facts, and not abstract values and concepts. It is objective because it

adheres strictly to the methods of the natural sciences; it considers only the observable

(quantifiable) facts that can be measured through the scientific method. It avoids ethics,

in that values are not within its scope; only directly observable facts are studied.

It is nevertheless wrong to ask which of the two approaches is better. They

complement each other. While political philosophy provides the aim, purpose, and

guidelines of politics, political science gives a realistic account of what is actually

happening in politics. Political science concretizes the abstract concepts of political

philosophy, while political philosophy provides a basis or direction to political science.

As one writer aptly puts it, political philosophy without political science is lame, and

political science without political philosophy is blind

Governance in General
The word “governance” came from the Latin verb “gubernare,” or more originally from

the Greek word “kubernaein,” which means “to steer.” Basing on its etymology,

governance refers to the manner of steering or governing, or of directing and controlling,

a group of people or a state.

Governance is essentially related to politics, in that politics is often defined as the art of

governance. Just as politics talks about governments, institutions, power, order, and the

ideals of justice, governance also deals with the public sector, power structures, equity,

and ideals of public administration. Nevertheless, they are distinct from each other in

the sense that politics is broader than governance. Traditionally, the study of politics

entails the concept of the “good life” and the “ideal society,” which are so broad they

include a web of subjects and every possible form of government. The study of

governance, on the contrary, is generally attuned to the concept of democracy, and on

how the government and the civil society arrive at a decision in meeting their needs.

Definition of Governance

Governance is commonly defined as the exercise of power or authority by political

leaders for the well-being of their country’s citizens or subjects. It is the complex

process whereby some sectors of the society wield power, and enact and promulgate

public policies which directly affect human and institutional interactions, and economic

and social development. The power exercised by the participating sectors of the society

is always for the common good, as it is essential for demanding respect and

cooperation from the citizens and the state. As such, a great deal about governance is

the proper and effective utilization of resources.

Importance of Studying Governance

From the information learned in the discussion of governance, the people, most

especially the citizens, will be aware of the need for good governance. Consequently,

such awareness should move them to action. For their continued empowerment and

sustainable development, they have to know how to fight for their rights by knowing

what to expect from Philippine governance. Thus, what will follow is an exposition of the

basic concepts of governance, the ideal type of governance, and the status of the

Philippines vis-à-vis the indicators of good governance.

EXERCISES:

1. What does politics have to do with conflict and cooperation?

2. Discuss briefly and distinguish from each other the basic concepts of politics.

3. How do political philosophy and political science as approaches in studying

politics differ?

4. Discuss briefly the importance of Governance.