Politics

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Politics is the means by which public policy is decided. The general application refers to policy-making at a government level, however, it has also come to mean the ins and outs of complex social situations, often having nothing to do with the reason the situation exists - for example, "office politics".

Here we will confine ourselves to the policy-making meaning.

Whatever the system a government uses for its organization (republic^[1], dictatorship^[2], town meeting, etc.), there is bound to be political wrangling for power, glory, and occasionally, the public good. Some systems attempt to keep much of this political give-and-take in the public eye (usually in republics, with "good government" laws), much to the disgust of the public. In other systems almost everything save the occasional "announcement" takes place behind closed doors. Most real world politics is a mix of these two.

Generally speaking, the art of politics consists of figuring out how to get some power or responsibility, and then figuring out how to get other people in such positions to agree to one's grand schemes in order to put them in place. This usually involves so many compromises between the parties involved that the final result in unrecognizable to either, or their constituencies. Usually, bribery of some form^[3] is the best way to get one's desired results. Threats also work.

There is ongoing debate in the social sciences, usually behind closed doors, about whether politics and political science should really constitute a separate division. Some, such as psychologists, claim that all political decisions can be understood within their own discipline.^[4] Some in the other social science disciplines seem to think the same thing. However, political scientists will usually argue that, while there is overlap, the studies of power and politics will always be separate from the other disciplines.

International politics goes by two names: diplomacy^[5], and war^[6].

Contents 1 Political parties 2 Political compass 3 Famous quotes 4 Footnotes

[edit] Political parties

In most countries in which people have a say in politics, political parties form. Political parties are (in theory) a means for people to band together and present a united voice on issues of importance for them.

Some countries try to prevent political parties. This can be done by banning political parties entirely, which seldom proves effective. In most cases, instead of parties you get factions, which become de facto parties. The other main way of preventing parties and partisanship is to create one party that then rules the state. This is seldom democratic.

The most comprehensive attempt to stop parties while preserving democracy was attempted in the United States. Obviously, it failed miserably.

The two main types of party systems are two-party and multi-party systems. Two party systems are common in systems in presidential systems that rely on a "first-past-the-post" method of elections; ie, on systems where the single biggest vote getter wins everything. Because factionalization has such a great likelihood of throwing an election to a further ideological opponent, there is great incentive for people to band together into large coalition parties, rather than into narrow issue parties. This can be seen in the United States, Taiwan^[7], and to a lesser extent, Great Britain.

Multiparty systems almost always recognize the power of parties within the formal system, usually through proportional representation. With proportional representation, instead of giving seats in parliament by districts, some or all of the seats are set aside to be allotted based on what percentage of votes each party gets. For example, if the ABC party was to get 50% of the overall vote, they would receive 50% of the allotted seats. Those in favor of such a system see it as a way to make sure that even the wishes of those who lose are included; opponents say that it gives power to people who are not even considered by the public.

Needless to say, ideas of liberal and conservative often get more confusing when there are not broad coalition parties. Moreover, it gives more room for extremist views, so that in some multiparty systems you find honest leftist and rightist parties.

[edit] Political compass

Traditionally, political views have been defined in terms of "left" and "right".^[8] However, a more accurate way of viewing political leanings is on a multi-axis "compass". The two most common axes are the social axis and the economic axis, each of which deal with issues regarding the respective term (social and economic). The image on the right shows the position on a two-axis compass of several leading political figures.

Even this concept has led to lightweight proseletyzing - the Libertarian Party has a version of the compass, with a very short quiz to go with it, that is designed to make everyone discover that they are actually libertarians.

In order to truly show where someone falls in their political views, of course, many more more axes would be needed - perhaps as many as one for every major issue in their times and locale.^[9]

[edit] Famous quotes

• "For those who enjoy the law or sausage, it is best that they not observe either being made"
• "Politics is a way for unattractive people to become celebrities"
• "How can you tell when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving."
• "Politics: From the greek "Poly", meaning many, and "Ticks", meaning blood-sucking parasites."

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ A republic is organized so the ruling class lets "the people" choose between them by "voting"
2. ↑ A dictatorship usually allows the people the privilege of voting for the winner
3. ↑ In civilized republics, bribery is usually called "campaign contributions".
4. ↑ This can be seen in political neuroscience.
5. ↑ Diplomacy is the threat of violence
6. ↑ War is the use of violence
7. ↑ Technically, Taiwan is multi-party, but the parties have settled into two "coalitions" of parties, and only the two biggest are really competitive in the presidential race.
8. ↑ This terminology comes from the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly in 1789, when politics were as simple as "disagree? We'll guillotine you!"
9. ↑ However, there is a marked tendency for people who hold certain opinions (say, on gay marriage) to also hold similar views on completely unrelated topics (like economics). It is not exact, but there is a correlation that political scientists have been studying for some time now.