Sociology

POLITICS

Meaning of Politics

On Jan 22, 2020, India dropped 10 places in the Democracy Index’s global ranking to 51st place, with the survey describing the erosion of civil liberties in the country as the primary cause of the democratic regression prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit out of 165 independent states and two territories.

In India people comes from different cultures and religions. Cultural aspects of North India are completely different from that of down South. Similarly, Central India has its own distinct cultural and linguistic heritage, which is completely different from North East or far West, for that matter. Considering India’s huge cultural and religious diversity, it is quite natural that every region has its political representative.

This makes Indian politics complicated than the western democracies with a single religion and culture in the majority. A politician in India can only be successful when he/she manages to garner the support of different religions, cultures, and castes. Politics in India isn’t easy and provides a quite challenging environment to even the most adept politicians.

India is a democratic country. The political leaders and parties in India come into power by the voting system. Indian citizens above the age of 18 years acquire the right to vote and elect their leaders. However, although it is a government by the people, the common man still suffers a great deal to the people and for the people. This is because there is a lot of corruption within the political system of our country. The only way is to change the Indian political system for good and positively change our society.

Politics is the collective name given too many different systems, ideas and real-world issues. It is impossible to define politics as anything in particular, but as a label for many different aspects of life encompassed into one.

Definition of Politics

To define politics varies due to several conflicting ways. Some people define politics as a greedy battle for power while some believe that politics is how one individual takes in the hankering of his community into achievement.

1. Peter Joyce defines politics as “the study of individuals’ behaviour within a group context.”

2. Andrew Heywood explains politics “as the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live.”

Understanding Politics in the Form of Power, Consensus and an act of government

Let us try to understand Politics on the following how the term politics took its shape into:

1. The forms of power

1. Politics as power: 

Power in political analysis is usually “thought of as a relationship which is the ability to influence the behaviour of others in a manner, not of their choosing.” Andrew Heywood explains that power only appears when one person makes another individual do anything, they might not interested in.

The nature of power is an important matter when it comes to politics, due to that we shall Identity the three different dimensions or faces of power, which are power as decision making, power as agenda-setting and power as thought control.

2. Power as decision-making: 

This type of dimension of power consists of a certain plan that may alter decisions’ content. This approach is comparable to the idea of mechanical or physical power. This indicates that power involves the pushed or pulled against one’s intention. Influencing decision itself has been categorized into three ways by Keith Boulding where there is the “use of force or intimidation (the stick), productive exchange involving mutual gain (the deal) and lastly the loyalty and commitment (the kiss).”

3. Power as agenda-setting: 

Secondly is the dimension of power advocated by Bachrach and Baratz in the year 1962. These faces of power possess the skill to deny any decision from being made.

4. Power as thought control: 

Lastly but not least of all dimensions of power is the face of power used to influence individuals’ wants and needs. This face of power is important due to the fact that it highlights the impact of ideology.

2. The forms of consensus

Politics as Consensus:

The term consensus itself means general agreement and when it comes to politics as consensus it is more towards how decisions are made. As said by Andrew Heywood, “politics is seen as a particular means of resolving conflict.” This concept of politics is implied when politics is portrayed as “the art of the possible” similarly an interesting definition of politics which relates to this concept of politics was given by Bernard Crick in which he says “Politics is the activity by which differing interest within a given unit rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to the welfare and the survival of the whole community.”

Crick’s above point of view says that the key to politics is therefore a wide dispersal of power. Politics can also be portrayed as that solution to the problem of order which chooses conciliation rather than violence and coercion. A view towards his explanation shows more of a belief that society is characterized by consensus rather than irreconcilable conflict. Lastly even if one agrees to accept it or not, the consensus is necessary for our professional arrangement it can’t be effectual without the use of consensus.

3. The forms of an act of government

Politics as an act of Government:

When we try to be more specific to the definition given by all we could understand that politics is not much of a science but an art. Bismarck himself believed that his way of politics was more of an art than science. He then elaborates his clause by saying that “it is more of the exercise of control within the society through the making and enforcement of collective decisions”. It makes us believe that this is a classical definition of politics. Various philosophers gave either way definitions of politics as an art. One was by the French philosopher Paul Janet in which he states that “political science is that part of social science which treats the foundation of the state and principles of government,” similarly a definition was given by David Easton, a former US political scientist which he says “politics is an authoritative allocation of values.” By this, he says that politics is surrounded by many processes through which our government answers to the burden from citizens, to be more exact by distributing rewards, benefits or penalties.

Lastly from all of the above concepts is Politics as conflict. In this particular concept, we can believe that it may vary from country and region around the world. This is because some countries have one dominating religion, for example, Islam or Christianity. So, from this view, not only religion alone can be the key variant on the issues there may also be others that may do so as well.

Influence of Indian Politics in our daily lives

Politics influences our daily life in many ways. Many people begin their day with gossips on politics with mourning tea or coffee. People start their day by reading political headlines in newspapers. Some fellows read every word of the news and discuss it with their friends for hours. If people like leader ‘x’ then they will abuse leader ‘y.’ People start fighting many times in the discussion. In India, everyone tries to be a politician. Today women are also interested in politics and they also talk for an hour on many issues. In the modern world, people chat and share their ideas on social sites like Facebook and Twitter. They read the latest news on these social sites and remain updated to fight with a friend on these issues. Most people speak in favour of the winning party, if someone utters a sentence in favour of the opposition, they make it a burning issue and laughs wholeheartedly at that person and his views. People use the photo of a political leader and flag of a party as symbols of power, prestige and status. Many people keep a political leader photo in their drawing room and fit a flag on their car.

When we go to our relatives, we talk about politics. We talk to them about our local politics and are keenly interested to know their local politics. Politics is everywhere in our life. The history that we teach to our children is totally political. Maximum news in the newspaper is political. In daily life, we get angry with the government if the price of onions has risen. When we reach the petrol pump and see that the petrol price has risen, we again give abuses to the ruling party. Our walls, our streets are painted with political slogans. Political slogans are very much popular among people and parties. People never miss the golden chance to show their knowledge by speaking on a political issue. Politics is a way of fun for people.

Politics becomes viral during election time. People attend the meeting of leaders to eat laddus and jalebis. Leaders also give alcohol to their devotees. Many small leaders collect crowds to make their powerful image in front of big leaders. They give rupees to people for walking behind them with party flags. People enjoy election time very much as it is the festival time of democracy. The public is always with winning leaders. It forgets the defeated ones.

Politics influence people in both good and bad ways. It is necessary for a healthy democracy. It increases the interest of people in democracy. Our country is a democratic and republic nation. Politics has increased corruption in our country. Politicians are the most corrupt people in modern India. They own a big black market. They think only about themselves and not for the nation. In this way, they make the nation weak and paralyzed. Many politicians misuse their power. They want to gain more profit with the help of their power. People feel proud of being personally related to a politician as he helps them in many ways. For example, he helps them get admission to a college; he helps them get a job and get the tender from the government. So in this way politician helps people but at the same time, he spreads corruption. They take bribes in the name of gifts or donations. Many politicians also listen to people’s problems and solve them. Many of them fight for people’s rights. However, politicians do some things good for people but they are rare. They change from time to time according to their political benefits. For the chair of the minister, they change their parties. Many times, they use the government for their benefit. People throw shoes on them, give a lot of abuse but they remain undisturbed. They keep attention towards the chair of the minister

In this way, politicians and politics both influence our daily life. In fact, it is impossible in a democratic country to remain uninfluenced by politics, especially in most populous democratic countries like India. Politics is dissolved in the air so if we breathe it will go inside. Politics have its own merits and demerits, which is essential for democracy. Politics on religious issues have resulted in communal violence and killed many innocent people. It must not be used on religious issues with which people are emotionally connected. Only healthy politics can have a good influence on people and the nation. Only Healthy politics can work in a positive way for the development of the nation.

Elder leaders try to use youth as party workers and don’t let them enter into main politics as they are the biggest threat to them. The youth has the power to kick out the stale politics and remove the corrupt one out of their position.

That’s how Indian Politics influence our daily lives and make a common man think about the nation’s political issues every day.

The Importance of Politics

It is very important to care about politics because you should know what is going on around you. Also, it is important to have a say in what is going on around you. The political decisions people make will affect many lives. Many people see politics as the government and the laws being made, and that is true, but it is way more complicated than that. Every law that is made will impact many. Sometimes the decisions will affect people in a bad way. Every vote that you make will either break people or make people.

You should care about politics because you should always know what is going on around you. For example, if a new law is made in your area, you might want to make sure that you and the people around you know that a new law has been made so that no one breaks the law without even knowing it. Also, if something dangerous is happening around you or someone you know, you want to be aware of breaking the law. It is very important to know what is happening around you.

Another reason you should care about politics is that you should have a say in what will happen. Everyone should have a say in what will happen, because we all live side by side with each other, and it would not be fair if someone was left out. Also, each vote makes a difference in the ways that we live. It is always important to share your opinion. The way you vote will affect many people and their everyday life.

Finally, you should care about politics because the decisions people make will affect many lives. For example, if someone wanted to build on the land, it might be good for the people who worked in the area, but residents who lived nearby and loved the land and relied on the land for water and food might be devastated. Sometimes things that sound like good ideas might be very devastating later.

These are just a few reasons why you should care about politics. Politics are very important and very complicated. Some people might not care about politics, but they will regret not voting when something bad happens.