Defining Politics and Democracy Essay - 1572 Words

Defining Politics and Democracy The word Politics is derived from the Greek word for city-state, Polis. Corporate, religious, academic and every other polity, especially those constrained by limited resources, contain dominance hierarchy and therefore politics. Politics is most often studied in relation to the administration of governments. Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action. Although it is generally applied to governments, politics is also observed in all human group interactions including corporate, academic, and religious. Political science is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of†¦show more content†¦Karl Marx sees politics as merely the orgainised power of one class for oppressing another while Kate Millett sees politics as power-structured relationships,arrangements whereby one grop of persons is contolled by another. This shows how different people feel about politics and it shows that everyone has a differnt view on what politics means. My view is that politics is how different parties believe the county should be run, how different political views change how different people feel on politics, e.g. The old labour party had the views for the working man and the unions, and the conservatives was for the business man, but now the new labour party has the same views as the conservatives, making it almost impossible to tell the difference between the parties. This is called Convergence. There are many political parties in Britain but throughout the whole of England, there are three dominant political parties : Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. These are expanded on in the regions by the addition of the Scottish National Party in Scotland, Plaid Cymru in Wales and the various Unionist parties and Sein Fein of Northern Ireland. In terms of electoral success, Britain has frequently been referred as a two-party state; similar to America. In termsShow MoreRelated Americas Democracy Essay1091 Words   |  5 PagesAmericas Democracy The United States of America is a republic, or representative democracy. Democracy, a word that comes to us from Greek, literally means the people rule (Romance, July 8). This broad definition leaves unanswered a few important details such as who are the people, how shall they rule, and what should they rule on (July 8). Defining the answers to those questions means defining a model for a democratic system. William E. 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In his bookRead MoreThe Status of Democracy in Thailand1626 Words   |  6 Pagesinvolved with politics, since then politics affairs not only belong to politicians or the ruler. As people have more participation in government’s projects, they started to challenge politicians and even the government and divided into two political movement groups: National United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) as known as The Red shirt group and People’s Alliance for the Democracy (PAD) as known as The Yellow shirt group. It is ironic that both groups claim for democracy while theyRead More Communitarianism vs. Cosmopolitanism Essay1147 Words   |  5 PagesNormative Theories of Politics - Contrasting Cosmopolitan and Communitarian Approaches When looking at normative theories of politics, the main distinction is between cosmopolitanism and communitarianism. In this essay the term community shall refer to political communities, or more specifically, states. It is important to note that these political communities have been defined territorially, and not necessarily by culture, although this is taken for granted to an extent by communitarianismRead MoreNationalism and Democracy Essay1166 Words   |  5 Pageshorrors caused by nationalism seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from the promising ideal of democracy. As Ghia Nodia pointed out, many analysts view nationalism as â€Å"fundamentally antidemocratic† (3). What these anti-nationalists fail to realize is that nationalism has also called force heroism and even sacrifice throughout history. Numerous people have risked their lives to restore democracy and civil rights in their nations, when they could easily have chosen comfortable exile elsewhere.Read MoreModern Democratic Governments 920 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy index map for 2012, nearly half of the world’s population was living under democratic governments. Democracy is spreading throughout the world, although growth has slowed, and many nations have drawn their political inspiration from the United States of America, which was one of the first to govern under a constitutional republic in the modern era. One of the more unique features of our government, which other countries have attempted to adoptRead MoreThe Key Characteristics Of Lasswell s Policy Orientation1591 Words   |  7 Pages ‘Policy Dismantling’ by Andrew Jordan, Michael W. Bauer and Christoffer Green-Pedersen, and lastly Nick Turnbull’s ‘Harold lasswell’s â€Å"problem orientation† for the policy sciences’. As per a literature review I will begin by first outlining the defining characteristics of L asswell’s policy orientation, then providing a summary of the four identified articles, after which a comparison and contrast will occur respective to each characteristic outlined. One of the aforementioned characteristics ofRead MoreThe Political System Of Democracy Essay1697 Words   |  7 Pagessystem of Democracy that has existed since the days of ancient Greece. When applied to the United States of America, two forms of Democracy are presented that clash together in their principles. This is of course, Elite Democracy and Popular Democracy. Through the analysis of the process of the Electoral College, the actions of politically charged people, and various reforms throughout history, we can see how Popular Democracy pales in comparison to the superior philosophy of Elite Democracy. Before