Meaning of Politics, governance and government

The word politics was defined by many authors and experts in the field of

Political Science.

According to Mendoza (2016), David Easton defined politics as

“authoritative allocation for a society and “understanding how

authoritative decisions are made and executed for a society”.

On the other hand, Harold Laswell explained politics as “who gets what,

when, and how”.

Easton and Laswell’s definition provides the widely accepted view that

politics is about governing and making public policy. In order to govern and

make a public policy careful decision should be undertaken.

Politics is about governing and generally describes the formality of

decisions made by a group of people who ruled or governed a number of

populations within a given territory. It also includes the person and

organizations that make, enforce, and apply political decisions for a society

(Mendoza, 2016).

Governance was defined as “the web of formal or informal

institutions , rules, norms, and expectations which govern

behavior in societies”. It can be viewed as corporate, local ,

national, and international governance. Governance has

been defined to refer to structures and processes that are

designed to ensure accountability, transparency,

responsiveness, rule of law, stability, equity and

inclusiveness, empowerment, and broad-based participation.

Traditional View- The traditional scholars made a distinction between

the discipline of Political Science which studies State and Government,

and Politics stands for current problems and issues being faced by the

Government.

2. Modern View- No difference between Politics & Political Science

Politics or Political Science means the study of all political relations

and interactions. Political relations and interactions are those

which are involved in the exercise of power in society.

Values of Politics- Basic Concepts order, power and justice

Politics and Everyday Life

Politics is all about the way human beings are governed,

which involves order, power and justice. Its not just an

abstract study .

Purpose of Political Science

By studying political science, we become more aware of our

dependence on the political system and better equipped to determine

when to favor and when to oppose change. (Garner,1998)

Importance of Politics

Having political knowledge you will be able to make the right

decision in what is the best action you can take involving

government processes such as paying taxes, choosing the

right candidate for an election, protecting your rights,

speaking the truth in the name of freedom and justice and

the like.

Ideology is an interrelated set of

ideas that in some way, guides or

inspires political action (Heywood,

2002)

A system of ideas and ideals,

especially one which forms the basis

of economic or political theory and

It is a type of Political Ideology that believes

in;

Liberalism

Democracy

Free Market

Constitutional Government
Political Equality

Influenced variety of movement concerned

with Individual Rights/Freedom of all

citizen

Liberal people believes that, for them to reach the

freedom of every people, government should step

down from its power.

According to Edmund Burke the

spoke person of this ideology,

society is said to comply with

"tradition" and "customs".

Conservative people believe that

the system of government should be

"monarchy" or "aristocracy".