How politics works?
No one speaks about it because it’s the secret everybody keeps for themselves. However, we’re going to unlock it, by showing the foundations of politics, and how it works. Right here, right now.
I want to speak to you about something nobody else will tell you. I refer to the secret of politics. The way it works.
You may ask yourself why it is a secret. The reason is simple. If you know how politics works, you understand it, and no one will mislead you anymore. So, the first lesson you need to learn is that politics resorts to lies to hide reality. But let’s leave this for another occasion. For now, we are going to focus on the main aspects of politics. Later, we’ll address different conceptualizations about the way it works.
First of all, we have to say that politics has three different sides. It can be considered a structure, process, or result. That’s why we speak about polity, politics, and policy. We’re going to address them one by one.
Structure
When we talk about politics as a structure, we consider it in general terms, and we focus the attention on the political organization of society. That means how a society organizes its political performance. In other words, the political structure is the social architecture made of institutions and rules, which defines how political conduct is in this society. For this reason, we normally use the term polity to refer to this aspect of politics.
The political structure is essential because it shows what institutions have the power, that is to say, who makes binding decisions on the whole society. And it also defines the rules to decide who wields power. We refer to tradition, force, election, and so on. It focuses the attention on the types of political organizations, both at the domestic and international levels.
The political structure is the most important aspect of politics because it frames the process and the result.
Now let’s take a look at the process.
Process
When we speak about politics, we consider it a process, and our attention focuses on the sequence of individual and collective behavior. What matters here is who does what. And also the factors that drive actors to do certain things. From this point of view, we are more interested in motivations and the ways of political intervention. It raises the question of why someone does something. This perspective shows politics in action and underscores its dynamic side.
The main factors which affect politics as a process are the cultural context and actors who take part in the political struggle.
Regarding the cultural context, we have to mention different elements. For instance, political and cultural attitudes that shape political codes of conduct. Values and ideologies also play an important role. Besides, there is the political socialization. And finally, we have to point out the prominent part of the mass media and public opinion.
Actors, however, are critical in politics because they steer the course of action in the political process. In any case, we have to make a distinction between actors and the different ways of political action.
When we address political action, we refer to different behaviors, both individual and collective. It can be a complaint letter to the constituency Representative, a demonstration, the vote, a public debate on politics, and so on. There are many ways of political action, but all have consequences in the public realm.
There aren’t political actions without actors. So, there is a wide range of actors taking part in politics in multiple ways. We are going to mention the most common.
Special interest groups or advocacy groups
First, there are special interest groups or advocacy groups and social movements. It would take too much time to explain them extensively. For now, it’s enough to say that advocacy groups are known for being organizations that try to influence public policy in their favor. They work based on one or more shared concerns in a specific field. There are many examples such as de NRA, consumer associations, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, the AIPAC, and so on.
Social movements
Social movements, in contrast, are integrated by groupings of individuals or organizations which focus on specific political or social issues. There are many definitions, but I don’t want to go into this now. It’s enough to say that social movements try to carry out, resist, or undo a social change. There are several examples, such as the environmentalist movement, the labor movement, the peace movement, the anti-nuclear movement, and many more.
Political Parties
Secondly, we find political parties. They are an important actor, but controversial. A political party is an organized group of people with the same ideology or political stance, and its purpose is to form a government and implement its agenda. Every party strives to rule and lead the country, and, because of this, they usually are the protagonists of politics. There are many examples of political parties all around the world. I come up with the Democratic and the Republican parties in the United States, or the Labour and the Conservative parties in the United Kingdom.
The Fourth Estate
Finally, we have to consider the press another political actor. The Fourth Estate is not just an instrument to inform the public opinion, but also an actor with its interests. Its influence on politics is well-known due to its capability to frame political issues. In contemporary societies, the mass media monopolize the attention of the public and accumulate a vast amount of power by reaching large numbers of people. In this way, the fourth power shapes public opinion. It also uses its influence to build alliances with other relevant actors, such as pressure groups, political parties, individuals, and so on. The importance of the mass media is different depending on the country. For instance, in those nations without a free press, the mass media is the conveyor belt of government messages. There are several examples, such as infamous political regimes like North Corea, Cuba, and other similar dictatorships.
As we have seen, these actors take part in politics in many different ways. But all of them pursue a real impact on official institutions, and especially in the political decision-making process. That means the public policy, the result of politics.
The result
When we speak about the result of politics, we have to address public policy. It is relevant because of the critical impact it has on society, especially in the citizen’s daily life. Public policy is designed and implemented by the government, and it’s the consequence of a previous political process in which interactions between different actors shaped the outcome.
In some way, we can say there is a black box, which is the realm where officials make binding decisions. That black box collects the inputs from the surroundings to transform them into outputs in the form of decisions and actions. These are public policies.
The policy of any official institution transforms the social and political environment, and it triggers a series of changes that boost new inputs, and the cycle restarts.
The political decision-making process depends on the structure of society. And what decisions are taken depends on the political process, and therefore on the interactions between different actors. As you see, public policy is constrained by various factors at different levels.
However, public policy is compulsory because institutions enforce it. Usually, public policies are laws, and in this way, they regulate social relations by forbidding or controlling certain behaviors, and they also develop distributive activities. In general, public policies operate in a scope that includes education, security, economy, and so on.
We’ve seen the different sides of politics so far, as structure, process, and result. Now it’s time to take one step beyond.
Conceptualization of politics
Now we’re going to address the conceptualization of politics. And to explain this, we’re going to resort to metaphors to visualize the different ways of understanding politics. I refer to three images. Besides, I’ll add one more metaphor at the end of the explanation.
Machine
The first metaphor considers politics as a machine. It means a set of springs, levers, cogs, and gears working together. Consequently, the activation of these springs and levers unleashes a series of effects. These results stem from an unavoidable causal determination. So, politics is mechanical, and as such, it has machinery that works based on deterministic causal relations. This image is familiar with the rationalist philosophy of authors such as Thomas Hobbes, or Isaac Newton, who considered the world’s functioning in mechanical terms.
Organism
The second metaphor considers politics as a living organism. Hence, political structures are like organisms, and they develop new organs to satisfy specific functions because this is the result of adaptation to the external environment to survive. In this case, the organism extracts resources from the surroundings. At the same time, it provides something valuable to the environment to justify its existence. This image has its inspiration in biology, and explains the evolution of the political realm in the same way as species, with their formation, development, and extinction.
Market
The third metaphor is the market. This image considers politics as a space where interchange happens. The market is based on a set of customs and rules which make it work. Moreover, the behavior in this environment is rationally oriented. Every actor pursues their interest, and by doing so, they exchange goods and services. Therefore, political activity develops in rational terms. Then, the political structure has its origins in the permanent adjustment of actors’ interests.
Play
The final metaphor is the play. You won’t find it in any political science handbook, nor elsewhere, even though it is implicit in many explanations by using terms taken from drama.
This image considers politics as a drama play. There is a theatre, which is the political community, and also a stage where performance takes place. We find actors who star different parts in the political drama. We have to mention the performance itself, which displays the course of events. We can’t forget the attrezzo, that is, the way events and actors display. Of course, there is a public witnessing the performance, and sometimes members of the public are taken on stage. Besides this, we find an orchestra livening up the scene. There is a script guiding the action on stage. And finally, we have to point out the critical role played by those who perform behind the scenes. I refer to the playwright, who composes the script, the director, who coordinates the whole play, and the producer, who provides the means to deliver the play.
Politics is a world of appearances and pretenses, where nothing is what it looks at first sight, and important things happen at the backstage, out of the public view. So, the image of politics as a play supplies a different approach that connects with the ambiguity of human beings. Ultimately, we are neither machines, cells, or sheer rational automatons.
Question of the day
Question of the day!. What element plays a critical role in the development of political events, actors, or structures?. Post your opinion in the comments section below, and I will read it.
Bibliography used:
Vallès, Josep M., Ciencia Política: Una introducción
Bobbio, Norberto, Democracy and dictatorship
Easton, David, A Systems Analysis of Political Life
Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links where I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.