Politics
Politics is the study of decision-making
power (who's got it, and who doesn't) at the inter-social and
societal levels. When considered at smaller scales, e.g.
within a profession, it is indistinguishable from
applied ethics or specialist
ethical codes - for these issues see the
list of ethics articles.
At whatever scale, politics is the rather imperfect way
that we actually do coordinate individual actions for mutual
(or strictly personal) gain. As political scientist
Harold Lasswell said, politics is "who gets what, when and
how." It also concerns how we resolve moral conflicts that are
sufficiently serious that they constitute a risk of social
disruption - in which case commitment to a common process of
arbitration or
diplomacy tends to reduce
violence - usually viewed as a key goal of
civilization.
Bernard Crick[?] is a major theorist of this view and also
of the idea that politics is itself simply "ethics
done in public", where public institutions can agree,
disagree, or intervene to achieve a desirable culmination or
comprehensive (process) result.
In addition to
government,
journalists,
religious groups, special interest groups, and
economic systems and conditions may all have influence on
decisions. Therefore, politics touches on all these subjects.
Authors of studies of politics have both reflected and
influenced the political systems of the world.
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote
The Prince, an analysis of politics in a
monarchy, in 1513, while living in a monarchy.
Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels wrote "The
Communist Manifesto" in
1848 and it went on to be one of the most influential
works of the twentieth century. Today, much study of politics
focuses on
democracies, and how their form affects the decisions they
make.
Other lines of political inquiry attempt to answer
philosophical questions: is there a moral
justification for government? What is
the purpose of government?
As well being influenced by these weighty matters, politics
is also a social activity, and as such it is subject to the
whims of
fashion as any other.
Political scientists are academics who research the
conduct of politics. They look at elections, public opinion,
institutional activities (how legislatures act, the relative
importance of various sources of political power etc), the
ideologies behind various politicans and political
organisations, how politicians achieve and wield their
influence, and so on.
To those who view politics as a branch of
ethics, indistinguishable from it, or inalterably opposed
to it, the concepts of
aesthetics,
culture,
moral codes,
ethical codes,
legal codes,
legal rights[?],
individual capital and the
moral core of an individual, and more abstract ideas of
safety and
fairness are fundamental to understanding politics and why
it is or is not ethical.
Feminism --
Masculism --
Primitivism --
Islamism --
Scientism
The justification of the state --
Anarchism and natural law theory --
Social contract theories --
Raw is moral philosophy[?] --
Consequentialist justifications of the state[?] --
The purpose of government
Voting systems,
Market systems,
Moral purchasing,
Measuring well-being,
Tax, Tariff and Trade[?],
Law,
Religion
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