What is politics?

Prof. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza, PhD

Department of Political Science

Ateneo De Manila University

“The word „politics‟ is derived

from the word „poly‟, meaning

„many‟, and the word „ticks‟,

meaning „bloodsucking

parasites‟”.

(Larry Hardiman in Planet

Dexter’s This Book Really

Sucks, 1999)

“a study of the authoritative

allocation of public values or

resources for a society”

(David Easton)

Well, seriously --- ‘politics’ is…

“a study of who gets what, when,

and how”

(Harold Lasswell)

or is…

“any persistent patterns of human

relationship that involve to a

significant extent control, power,

influence and authority”

(Robert Dahl)

or about…

4 Core Concepts in the Study of

Politics

(1) Power...

relational

intentional

“the ability of person A to make

person B do something minus

the probability that person B

would do it on her/his own

accord”

For non-compliance...

• There is a threat of sanction;

• as Niccolo Machiavelli said, “it is

better to be feared than loved...

(2) Influence...

•An informal form

of power

•No threat of sanction

•No severe

deprivation for

non-conformity

•Opposite of Machiavellian

thought, “it is better to be

loved than feared”

(3) Authority...

•Right to exercise power

and influence because of

a particular position

•Placed in the position

through a widely

accepted procedure

• e.g. elections

(4) Legitimacy...

•Being considered to be

correctly placed in a

particular position

•Carrying out the

functions of that role

correctly

• has moral acceptability

Political legitimacy...

• Government‟s rule is valid

• government should generally be obeyed

• legitimacy is not automatic for it is created

over a long period of time

Conceptual Bounds of the

„Political‟

‘Political’ ‘Extra-Political’

Public Private

Governmental Extra-governmental

State Society

institutional personal

Political Puzzles: Approaches

• Studying political behavior

• Studying political structures and functions

• Studying political phenomena

• Studying political ideas

• Studying political documents

• Studying the political future