It is believed that politicians are engaged in a power struggle. To a certain extent, one can agree with this. However, the matter is much deeper. Let's see what the connection between politics and power is. How to approach the understanding of the laws by which they operate?
What is a policy?
We need to understand the essence of the terms being studied. Otherwise, it is impossible to figure out what the connection between politics and power is. A modern understanding of these concepts arose in ancient Greece. Aristotle called politics an essay about a state or rulers. Much later, the Italian Machiavelli proposed a definition of a new science. He called her politics. This is the art of managing a certain community, united by a common territory, rules and traditions, that is, a state entity. At different times, the essence of politics tried to realize and define great minds. So, Bismarck argued in absentia with Aristotle. He, as a practitioner, assured that in politics there is more art than science. Creativity, most likely, really is its integral part. The concepts of politics and power are closely intertwined. The latter in the broad sense of the word acts as a connection between certain entities on governance issues. On the other hand, the authorities consider the opportunity to implement their own will. In a narrow sense, it is an organized tool for introducing into society rules that are binding on everyone. Moreover, politics acts as an instrument of power. It allows groups or leaders to dominate the society, to occupy leading positions.
The role of power in politics
It must be understood that the structure of relationships is constantly becoming more complex. With the emergence of the concept of democracy, the laws of politics and power underwent changes. For example, in a monarchical state there was no need to enlist the support of the population in making decisions. The sovereign dictated his own will, which society equated with the divine, that is, there was no legitimate political confrontation in power. The monarch offered people ideas, and abandoning them meant committing treason. Democracy brought the institution of power to a different level. To be able to influence the development of the country, it is necessary to attract the population to their side. From this point of view, the concept should be expanded a little: politics is a struggle for power carried out by large groups, in some cases by nations or social strata. We came to the fact that both phenomena have a reciprocal relationship. On the one hand, politics acts as an instrument of power; on the other, it is a means of achieving the latter. That is, it is impossible to consider one without the other. Power always influences the art of politics, whoever pursues it. Here it is necessary to touch in more detail on the very concept of the dominance of someone's will. And this is exactly how the concept of power is deciphered in literature.
Four components
When a group of people has a need to develop common rules, harmonize order, we can talk about power. It appears in the course of the natural historical development of the social system. It is constantly becoming more complicated and reaches such a moment when it is impossible to maintain the order necessary for everyone without a center. Management powers are concentrated in a recognized body that exercises power. Moreover, people themselves endow it with them and maintain relative legitimacy by obeying his decisions. It turns out that power is the center of concentration of control. Politics acts as a tool for introducing its decisions into society. The system of power relations consists of the following components:
- the presence of partners (individual or collective);
- system of control over the fulfillment of will;
- submission to administrative decrees;
- the establishment of universally recognized norms and rules that legitimize the right to issue an order.
Policy features
Come on the other side. To understand what the connection between politics and power is, you need to look at the functions of the first. After all, it tightly enters the life of society and the state. The policy performs the following roles (functions):
- expresses the interests of all members (strata, groups) of the population;
- directs citizens towards maintaining order, fosters social activity in them;
- ensures the development of regions and the country as a whole.
Example
For a more complete understanding of the issue, we consider theoretically the election system in any democratic country. As a rule, parties that express the interests of certain groups of the population struggle for power. They need to gain more votes than opponents. For this, each of the parties is developing its own program, trying to interest the population. They advertise their own political platform. After the election, those who received power implement it. So, they fulfill the promises given to voters. As a rule, society expects that the policy of the new government will be different from the one pursued by the previous one. That is, the state will change the direction of development in the direction preferred by most of the population. Here, politics acted as a method of achieving power, then as a way of its implementation in society. In practice, of course, everything is much more complicated than in our hypothetical case.
