WHAT IS?

Do you think without caring, you are not involved?

Why are you interested? /disinterested/ uninterested?

What do you know about Politics?

POLITICS is defined as the art and science of Government.

Politics involves making common decisions for a group of people.

“Man is a political animal”

Aristotle

Tolerance, respect, support and compromise are the language

of politics

Politics itself

admits differences.

POLIS

A process in the political system in which the goals of that system are SELECTED and

ORDERED in terms of priority in the ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES. The Allocation

of resources is done through authoritative decisions by individuals, groups or

institutions to formulate and implement policies and programs in behalf of the rest

of the members of the society.

Who gets what, when & how”

Harold Lasswell, 1936

“Politics is the exercise of power”

Robert Dahl (and other ‘realists’)

“Politics involves the authoritative

allocation of values for a society”

David Easton, The Political System,

1953

Power Who holds it (authority)

How do you get it (politics)

RECURRING THEMES

POLITICS:The processes whereby a society makes binding

decisions

who pays how much tax?

How to regulate commercial activity?

How to regulate civil activity?

POLITICS AND ITS OBJECTS

Ideas and interests

POLITICS AND ITS OBJECTS

State/Government

POLITICS AND ITS OBJECTSCitizens/Communities

Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom.  ~Plato, The Republic

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must

first set our hearts right.

Confucius

“The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men”

Plato

THE STUDY OF POLITICS DEALS WITH:

GOVERNANCEPOLITICAL PROCESSES

INSTITUTIONS GROUPSINDIVIDUALS

ROLES

STRUCTURES

POWER

VALUES

GOVERNANCE

INDIVIDUALS

GROUPS

POLITICAL PROCESSES

INSTITUTIONS

POLITICS ALSO DEALS WITH THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS:

GROUPS

GOVERNANCE

The exercise of POLITICAL, ECONOMIC and ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY in the management

of POLITICAL AFFAIRS. (NEDA, 1998)

1. POLITICAL GOVERNANCE

2. ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE

3. ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNANCE

4. ECOLOGICAL GOVERNANCE

REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

TRANSPARENCY

ACCOUNTABILITY

PARTICIPATORYSUSTAINABILITY

LEGITIMACY

EFFICIENCY AND

EFFECTIVENESS IN THE USE OF RESOURCES

FORMS OF PARTICIPATION

1. ELECTORAL ACTIVITY

2. LOBBYING

3. ORGANIZING

4. CONTACTING

5. VIOLENCE

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

1. PROMOTE EQUITY AND EQUALITY

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

2. DEVELOP RESOURCES AND METHODS OF GOVERNANCE

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

3. PROMOTE GENDER BALANCE

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

4. MOBILIZE RESOURCES FOR SOCIAL PURPOSE

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

5. STRENGTHENS INDIGENOUS MECHANISMS

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE

TO:

1. OPERATE BY RULE OF LAW

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE

TO:

2. DEFINE AND TAKE OWNERSHIP OF NATIONAL ISSUES

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD BE ABLE

TO:

3. DEAL WITH TEMPORAL ISSUES

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD ALSO BE:

1. SERVICE ORIENTED

GOOD GOVERNANCE SHOULD ALSO BE:

2. REGULATORY RATHER THAN CONTROLLING

GOOD GOVERNANC

E SHOULD ALSO BE:

3. ENABLING AND FACILITATIVE

CONCEPT OF POWER

POWER is the capacity of an actor to compel or influence other actors to alter their behavior or to do what they would not do otherwise.

POWER may be measured in terms of its

DOMAIN, SCOPE and

WEIGHT.

DOMAIN OF POWER refers to the aggregate of individuals whose

behavior it can alter.

SCOPE OF POWER covers the values implicated in the objectives of the power wielder.

WEIGHT OF POWER refers to the extent it

affects policies

AUTHORITY refers to the formal or legal relationships between policymakers and citizens.

Influence is the capacity to produce an effect without the threat of

coercion.

LEGITIMACY is the extent to which citizens regard the state and its

institutions including its policies and programs as morally right and

acceptable.

ATTITUDE is a learned predisposition

towards political objects. It is an

idea charged with emotions, which

predisposes certain kinds of actions to

a particular situation.

PUBLIC OPINION refers to the

summation of the expressed or verbalized attitudes of individuals.

PERCEPTION is the expression of all those members of a group who are

giving attention in any way to a given issue. It is a selection process by

which individuals choose and organize stimuli that they think fit for their

attention.

VALUES are enduring beliefs that a specific end-state of existing order or mode of conduct preferable to an

opposite state. It includes the goals targeted by a

political activity and the behavior employed in achieving said goals.

CONFLICT is a disharmony arising from stresses and strains due to

some changes in the political environment.

DECISION-MAKING is the process by which authorized

individuals or groups make decisions with the effect of allocating resources in the

society through resolutions, laws, policies, programs,

decrees, etc.

According to JOHN CALHOUN “

interests were destined to be

varied and diverse in the society”

Because of diversity, individuals tend to

associate themselves.

Decision Making

Policy

Political Environment

Supports

Demands