Summary Politics

A snapshot of the summary - Politics Author: Andrew Heywood ISBN: 9781352005462

• 1 What is politics?

• 1.1 Defining politics

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• Why is politics an inevitable feature of the human condition?

  Because of the inescapable presence of diversity and scarcity.
• What is politics and to which 2 phenomena is politics linked?

  The activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live.
  
  1. Conflict: Competition between opposing forces, reflecting a diversity of opinions, preferences, needs or interests 
  
  2. Cooperation: Working together; achieving goals through collective action
• Which two major problems come by when you attempt to clarify the meaning of politics?

  1) Politics is a loaded term, often associated with trouble and violence and manipulation and lies
  2) Even respected authorities cannot agree what the subject is about
• Which are the two broad approaches to defining politics from Hay 2002 and Leftwich 2004?

  1) Politics that is associated with an arena or location 
  2) Politics has certain qualities or characteristics

• 1.1.1 Politics as the art of the government

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• What does the meaning 'what concerns the state' imply?

  That politics is only to study the exercise of authority, which gives it a very narrow meaning.
• Which two important things are forgotten when politics only is what concerns the state?

  Most institutions and social activities are regarded as being outside politics and the increasingly important international and global influence is ignored.
• What is the most narrow view on the meaning of politics?

  Politics is restricted to those state actors that are consciously motivated by ideological beliefs trough a political party; civil servants (ambtenaren) are left out.

• 1.1.2 Politics as public affairs

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• What is the definition of politics seen as public affairs?

  The distinction between the political and non-political is the same as between the public and private sphere.
• How is politics as public affairs understood?

  The distinction between 'the political' and 'the non-political' coincides with the division between an essentially public sphere of life and what can be thought of as a private sphere
• What is the traditional distinction between public- and private sphere?

  The institutions of the state are public in the sense that they are responsible for the collective organization of community life. Family, private businesses and clubs are private because of they are set up and funded by individual citizens to satisfy their own interests