Politics

The academic study focusing on just politics, which is therefore more targeted than general political science, is sometimes referred to as politology (not to be confused with politicology, a synonym for political science). Political science, the study of politics, examines the acquisition and application of power.

Political science is a social science which deals with systems of governance, and the analysis of political activities, political thoughts, and political behavior.

Some examples of political parties worldwide are: the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa, the Democratic Party (D) in the United States, the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany and the Indian National Congress in India.

It is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.

A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising force, including warfare against adversaries.

The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people.

Politics is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments, companies and institutions up to sovereign states, to the international level.

International relations (IR) or international affairs (IA) — commonly also referred to as international studies (IS), global studies (GS), or global affairs (GA) — is the study of interconnectedness of politics, economics and law on a global level.

The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics and the works of Confucius. This classification is comparatively recent (it was not used by Aristotle or Hobbes, for instance), and dates from the French Revolution era, when those members of the National Assembly who supported the republic, the common people and a secular society sat on the left and supporters of the monarchy, aristocratic privilege and the Church sat on the right.

His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics and government.

Politics is a set of activities associated with the governance of a country, state or an area.

Normative concepts of fair governance or good governance are common among political, public sector, voluntary, and private sector organizations.

Of the institutions that ruled states, that of kingship stood at the forefront until the American Revolution put an end to the "divine right of kings".

The divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandate is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy.

During the past decade two tendencies (1.Concern for theoretical explication and methodological rigor, and 2.

An opportunistic tendency to use any argument at hand is not very rigorous, although very common in politics, for example.

States are perhaps the predominant institutional form of political governance, where a state is understood as an institution and a government is understood as the regime in power.

In politics, a regime (also known as "régime", from the original French spelling) is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society.

According to Aristotle, states are classified into monarchies, aristocracies, timocracies, democracies, oligarchies, and tyrannies.

These people may be distinguished by nobility, wealth, education or corporate, religious, political, or military control.

The singular politic first attested in English 1430 and comes from Middle French politique, in turn from Latin politicus, which is the Latinization of the Greek πολιτικός (politikos), meaning amongst others "of, for, or relating to citizens", "civil", "civic", "belonging to the state", in turn from πολίτης (polites), "citizen" and that from πόλις (polis), "city".

Derivative words in English include policy, polity, police, and politics. In Greek, words deriving from polis include politēs and politismos, whose exact equivalents in Latin, Romance, and other European languages, respectively civis ("citizen"), civilisatio ("civilization"), etc., are similarly derived.

Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption.

Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby reducing their standing among their fellow citizens.

Forms of corruption vary, but include corruption, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement.

Cronyism is the practice of partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations.

Forms of corruption vary, but include corruption, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement.

Stephen D. Morris, a professor of politics, writes that political corruption is the illegitimate use of public power to benefit a private interest.

Forms of corruption vary, but include corruption, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement.

Nepotism is the granting of jobs to one's relatives or friends in various fields, including business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities.

Political science, the study of politics, examines the acquisition and application of power.

In social science and politics, power is the capacity of an individual to influence the conduct (behaviour) of others.

Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behaviour, as well as examining the preconditions for the formation of political communities; political economy, which attempts to develop understandings of the relationships between politics and the economy and the governance of the two; and public administration, which examines the practices of governance.

Political philosophy, also known as political theory, is the study of topics such as politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of laws by authority: what they are, if they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect, what form it should take, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever.

Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behaviour, as well as examining the preconditions for the formation of political communities; political economy, which attempts to develop understandings of the relationships between politics and the economy and the governance of the two; and public administration, which examines the practices of governance.

Some of the various definitions which have been offered for the term are: "the management of public programs"; the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"; and "the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies themselves, the various inputs that have produced them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies."

Several different political spectra have been proposed.

A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions.

The history of politics is reflected in the origin, development, and economics of the institutions of government.

The history of politics is reflected in the origin, development, and economics of the institutions of government.

The close relation of economic theory and practice with politics is a focus of contention that may shade or distort the most unpretentious original tenets of economics, and is often confused with specific social agendas and value systems.

Parties often espouse an expressed ideology or vision bolstered by a written platform with specific goals, forming a coalition among disparate interests.

There are many different kinds of ideologies: political, social, epistemological, and ethical.

The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics and the works of Confucius.

This classification is comparatively recent (it was not used by Aristotle or Hobbes, for instance), and dates from the French Revolution era, when those members of the National Assembly who supported the republic, the common people and a secular society sat on the left and supporters of the monarchy, aristocratic privilege and the Church sat on the right.

Another form of secularism is the view that public activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be uninfluenced by religious beliefs or practices.

There are many forms of political organization, including states, non-government organizations (NGOs) and international organizations such as the United Nations.

A political organization is any organization that involves itself in the political process, including political parties, non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups and special interest groups.