DEFINING POIITICSs

onse
Aristotle (384-322 BcE) Power
Power, in its broadest
Creek philosopher. Aristotle was a student of Plato (see to
Gre
sense. is the ability
12) and tutor of the young Alexander the Great. He outcome.
. achieve a desired
established his own school of philosophy in Athens in somietimes
and it is
235 BCE: this was called the 'peripatetic school' after his terrns of the
referred to in
tendency to walk up and down as he talked. His 22 surviving something.
power to' do
treatises, compiled as lecture notes, range over logic, This includes everything
nhysics. metaphysics, astronomy, meteorology. biology from the ability
to keep

ethics and politics. In the Middle Ages, Aristotle's work oneself alive to
the abirty of

hecame the foundation of Islamic philosophy., and it was government to promote

later incorporated into Christian theology. His best known economic growth. In

Doiitical is
work Politics,
a study
of the ideal constitution.
politics. however. power is

of as a
usually thought
as the
relationship: that is,
The link between politics and the affairs of the state also helps to explain why abilityto infiuence the

This is because, behaviour of others

in a
negative or pejorative images have so often been attached politics. of
to
manner not of their
is closely associated with the activities politicians.
in the popular mind, politics choosing. It is referred to in

are often seen as power-seeking hypocrites who

conceal personal
Put brutaly, politicians terms of having 'power
conviction. Indeed,
ambition behind the rhetoric of public service and ideological
over people. More narrowty.

common in the modern period as intensified power may be

associated

this perception has become more with the ability to punish

or
of corruption and
media exposure has more effectively brought to light examples reward, bringing it ciose to
of anti-politics. This rejection of the
dishonesty, giving rise to the phenomenon force or manipulation, in
conventional political life is rooted in a view of politics contrast to 'inffuence',
personnel and machinery of evident in the use which also encompasses
as a self-serving,
two-faced and unprincipled activity, clearly the
and 'politicking. Such an image of
rational persuasion ( s e e
of derogatory phrases such as 'office politics' faces of power focus box.
to the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli,
who, in The
politics is sometimes traced back
distinction has
p. 11). A
realistic account of politics that drew also been drawn between
Prince ([1531] 1961), developed a strictly "hard' power and 'soft
and manipulation.
attention to the use by political leaders of cunning, cruelty power (see p. 142).
the essentially liberal perception that, as
Such a negative view of politics reflects
individuals are self-interested, political power
is corrupting, because it encourages
and at the expense
those 'in power' to exploit their position for personal advantage
in Lord Acton's (1834-1902) aphorism: 'power
ofothers. This is famously expressed Nevertheless, few who
tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
is an inevitable and permanent
view politics in this way doubt that political activity
feature of social existence. However venal politicians may
be, there is a general, if
with us. Without some kind of mechanism
grudging, acceptance that they are always into a civil war
for allocating authoritative values, society would simply disintegrate
task is
social-contract theorists argued (see p. 93). The
ofcach against all, as the early to an end, but rather to ensure
therefore not to abolish politicians and bring politics
and constraints that ensure
that politics is conducted within a framework of checks
that governmental power is not abused.

Politics as ppublic afiairs Ant-poltics: Disillusionment

A second and broader conception of politics moves it beyond the narrow realm of with formal and established
affairs'. In other words, political processes, reflected
gOVernment to what is thought of as 'public life' or 'public in
nonparticipation, support for
aistinction between 'the and 'the nonpolitical' coincides with the division
C political' antisystem parties, or the use
between an essentially publie sphere of ife and what can be thought of as a private of direct action.
sphere. Sucha view of politics is often traced back to the work of the famous Greek