What is politics in detail?

The specific behaviors of various power subjects to safeguard their own interests in the superstructure field and the specific relationships formed from them. Politics has great influence and function on all aspects of social life. It is an important social phenomenon in a certain period of human history. This social phenomenon is very complicated. Generally speaking, this word is often used to refer to the behavior of governments, political parties and other countries in governing the country. However, sociologists are also used to referring to the relationships among various interest institutions, schools and religious institutions. Political scientists and politicians of past dynasties have discussed it from different angles and different emphases, but so far there is no recognized exact definition.

Etymology of politics

The word "politics" in many western languages (French politique, German Politik, English Politik) comes from the Greek π ο λ ι? The earliest written record of this word can be verified in Homer's epic, which originally meant castle or acropolis. The Athenians in ancient Greece called the Acropolis built on the top of the mountain "Akropoli" or "Boli" for short. After the formation of the city-state system, "Boli" became synonymous with the city-state with political significance, and was later combined with the land, people and their political life to be given the meaning of "country" or "country". Later, political, political system, politicians and other words were derived. Therefore, the word "politics" refers to the sum of all kinds of public life behaviors such as citizens' participation in rule, management, participation and struggle.

The pre-Qin philosophers in China also used the word "politics". The pen name Shangshu has the following words: "Taoism and politics make people happy"; There is a "political ban" in Li Zhou Emperor Guan Sui Ren. But more often, "politics" and "governance" are used separately. "Politics" mainly refers to the power, system, order and law of the country; "Governance" mainly refers to managing and educating people, and also refers to achieving a stable state.

In ancient China, "politics" generally meant:

The system and order of the dynasty, such as the "Song Rebellion"

A means of rule and governance, such as "the combination of ceremony, music, punishment and politics"

Moral cultivation in line with etiquette, such as "the politician is right, the son is handsome in politics, who dares to be wrong"

The government activities of monarchs and ministers in the imperial court, such as "they are in the government, and they use Chinese utensils to assist the government."

In ancient China, "governance" was generally used to express it.

A stable and peaceful social state, such as "the rule of human feelings"

Governance activities such as "self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world"

The meaning of these "politics" in ancient China was completely different from that in the west and ancient Greece. Politics, to a great extent, is only the activities of monarchs and ministers to maintain rule and govern the country.

The modern word "politics" in Chinese comes from the same word "politics" created by Chinese characters when Japanese translated western languages. When British politics was introduced into China from Japan, people couldn't find the corresponding words in Chinese. Sun Yat-sen believes that "politics" should be used to translate, and that "politics is everyone's business, governance is management, and managing everyone's business is politics." What he said was very influential in China at that time.

The definition of politics

Because people are faced with different historical tasks in different times, and the political emphases and concerns are different, as well as the influence of different historical views, the content emphasized in explaining political concepts is also different, so there are various answers to what is politics, and many definitions about politics have been formed.

Marx, Engels and Lenin believed that "all class struggles are political struggles", "politics is the most concentrated expression of economy", "politics is the struggle between classes", "politics is to participate in state affairs, determine the direction for the country, and determine the form, task and content of state activities" and "politics is a science and an art". These discourses generally reflect the essence, attributes, basic contents and characteristics of politics and are the guiding ideology for studying political phenomena and defining politics.

Western political scientists have given many definitions of politics, such as: ① They think that politics is the activity of a country, the governance of a country, and the act of seizing or preserving power. ② It is considered that politics is a power struggle and a power phenomenon in interpersonal relationships. (3) It is believed that politics is an activity that people express their will and interests in arranging public affairs, and the goal of politics is to formulate policies, that is, to deal with public affairs. ④ Politics is the process of formulating and implementing policies. ⑤ It is considered that politics is the relationship of social interests and the authoritative distribution of social values.

In 1980s, the political circles in China held the following main views on the concept of "politics": ① Politics is a direct strategy, means and organizational form adopted by all classes to deal with their internal relations with other classes, nationalities and countries in order to safeguard and develop their own interests. (2) Politics refers to the activities of a certain class or group to seize and consolidate political power in order to achieve its economic requirements, as well as all internal and external policies and strategies. (3) Politics is an activity mainly promoted by the government, involving all fields of life and occupying a major position in various social activities. (4) Politics is the product and superstructure of class society, which is mainly manifested in the power struggle between the ruling class and the ruled class and the distribution and use of power within the ruling class.

Political characteristics

Politics, as a social phenomenon and social superstructure, appears at the time of class opposition and the emergence of the state, and always has direct or indirect contact with the state. Politics is closely related to the interests of various power subjects. In order to obtain and safeguard their own interests, various power subjects will inevitably have conflicts of different natures and degrees, which determines the basic attribute that political struggles are always carried out for certain interests. Economic, social, cultural and ideological interests, the pursuit of power and some psychological satisfaction are the basic driving forces for political operation of various power subjects. Politics, as a way for power subjects to safeguard their own interests, is mainly manifested in various leading behaviors based on state power and various anti-leading behaviors based on restricting state power, such as ruling behavior, management behavior, participation behavior, struggle behavior, leadership behavior, anti-government behavior, authoritative influence and power competition. The common feature of these behaviors is that they are all centered on interests and have different degrees of compulsion, dominance and mutual struggle. Politics, as the relationship between power subjects, is mainly manifested in the interaction of the above specific behaviors. Such as the relationship between ruling and being ruled, management and participation, authority and obedience, and mutual struggle. These relations basically depend on the inevitability of social and economic relations.

Political evolution

ancient Greece

Politics in ancient Greece was polis politics. Citizens who have reached the age of 20 (excluding women, slaves and foreigners) participate in the management and rule of the city-state. In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, people have virtue, and the meaning of human life lies in practicing their own virtue. Man is a natural political animal, so he is a natural moral animal. People fully display his virtue in public activities. Aristotle said: "The goal of politics is to pursue the best."

The citizens of this city-state achieved their political goals through persuasion. Kenneth Minogue believed that in ancient Greece, "people were completely equal in political relations, and everyone just obeyed their own laws and took turns to be rulers and ruled."

ancient Rome

The regime of the Roman Republic is basically the same as that of ancient Greece. Politics at this time is * * * and China's activities. The publicus (male * * *) in "Res Public" comes from the populus us. At that time, the word meant "people's affairs". In ancient Roman politics, the establishment and maintenance of the Republic was its core.

In the eyes of the Romans, kingship was a kind of slavery. So the Romans set up two consuls and tribunes to maintain this rule. In order to protect people's freedom, ancient Rome developed three different powers and two harmonious states:

Different powers

Potential, real power

Potestas, the rights and powers of posts set according to the system.

Auctoritas, the worship of religion and ancestors in political activities and systems, is manifested in the inheritance system and participation in the Senate.

Harmonious state

abide by the law

Free debate

Western Middle Ages

European politics in the Middle Ages was in a transitional period between ancient politics and modern politics. With the demise of the Western Roman Empire, the city-state system was destroyed, and gradually formed a reward and enfeoffment system. Politics is no longer a public activity in which all citizens participate equally, but an activity of kings and ministers. Politics is no longer an activity to achieve justice for the sake of * * * the same origin and * * the same belief, but has become a kind of interest politics. The means of solving problems in political activities have changed from dialogue and persuasion to violence and war, and into the relationship between ruling and being ruled. The significance of political transcendence no longer exists. Thomas Aquinas changed Aristotle's famous saying "Man is born a political animal" into "Man is born a social animal".

With the rise and development of Christianity, religious belief has become the meaning of life pursued by people, rather than ancient politics. This kind of politics developed from feudal rule has become the origin of modern politics.

Ancient China

The politics of ancient China was quite different from that of the West and ancient Greece. The politics in ancient China was, to a great extent, the activities of monarchs and ministers to manage and rule the country. This kind of politics has been promoted to inherit the destiny, so good governance can comply with the destiny, while bad governance violates heaven and will be punished.

China's ancient politics ran through individual's daily life, and morality was the standard to measure political activities. In this kind of politics, there is a lack of institutional norms, and the operation of politics depends more on moral norms.

Modern politics

Modern politics is developed from modern countries and comes from the rise of civil society. This forms a social relationship based on private interests, so that economic life controls political life, and politics needs to seek legal support from the economy, and the function of politics becomes to safeguard the development of economic interests. Therefore, Marx put forward that politics is a superstructure based on economy, a concentrated expression of economy, and the sum total of various social activities and social relations with political rights as the core.

1789 the French revolution had a great influence on modern politics. Since then, politics has become a general term for all kinds of activities to acquire, maintain and seize power.

During the Cold War, the socialist countries accepted the Marxist political view, holding that "all class struggles are political struggles" and "politics is a struggle between classes, and politics is the relationship between the proletariat that opposes the world bourgeoisie and strives for liberation". After China's reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping put forward that politics is the overall situation of socialist modernization, and made politics serve economic construction. Changed the socialist countries' understanding of politics.

Under the influence of globalization, the world is getting smaller and smaller, and now the significance of politics also includes dealing with international affairs.

Political development

Politics develops with the progress of society from low level to high level, and the depth and breadth of social members' participation in political life also develops. Historically, politics has been centered on state power from the beginning, which is manifested in all activities of people to seize, maintain, build, implement and restrict state power. After the emergence of political phenomena, it has experienced thousands of years of development and is highly mature. In modern times, politics is a huge social force, which affects the interests of all social members and dominates their behavior. Political phenomena will still exist in human society for a long time. Only when the political life of human beings develops to fundamentally change the political mode of the minority managing the majority and realize social self-management, the original political phenomenon will be transformed into a general social phenomenon and eventually die out.

About the political system

Political system refers to the concrete manifestation and realization form of political system, and it is a normative system for managing national political affairs, specifically referring to specific systems such as leadership system, organization system and work system that are compatible with the fundamental system of the country. Referred to as regime.

Political system refers to the organization and management form of state power and the political activity system of the country. First of all, it refers to the forms of state power, including the forms of state government (such as constitutional monarchy, parliamentary system, presidential system and committee system), structural forms (such as unitary system, federalism and confederation system) and the principles of organization and activities of state power institutions (such as the principle of separation of powers); Secondly, it also includes other organizations and political behavior systems related to state power (such as political party system and electoral system). The typical form of modern western political system is bourgeois democracy. In the mid-1970s, with the regime changes in Spain, Portugal and Greece, bourgeois democracy became a popular political model in major capitalist countries.

The relationship between politics and other social phenomena

Politics is closely related to social phenomena such as economy, law, religion and morality, and influences each other.

(1) and the economy. Economy is the foundation of the whole society, and it is also the foundation of political existence and development. Politics is the reflection and concentrated expression of economy. On the one hand, political development ultimately depends on the situation of economic life, the nature and development level of social productive forces and the contradictory movement between social productive forces and social production relations. On the other hand, politics is relatively independent of economy, which greatly affects the development of economy and determines the contradictory movement between production relations and productivity under certain conditions. The role of politics in economy is usually realized through state power.

② Relationship with law. The relationship between politics and law is mainly reflected by the relationship between state power and law. State and law are the products and tools of class struggle, the representatives and manifestations of the will of the ruling class, both of which belong to the superstructure and are produced and determined by the economic foundation of society. In the relationship between the two, politics is fundamental and the premise of the emergence of law. Laws are always formulated and recognized by the state, and the authority and effectiveness of laws are backed by state power. On the other hand, law also has a great influence on politics, which embodies the will of the state through the norms of law, consolidates the state power and maintains its normal operation.

③ Relationship with religion. Politics and religion are closely related under certain historical conditions. In history, religion was once an important tool of political rule. Religious conflicts are often manifestations of national struggles, class struggles or struggles of different political groups. In modern society, with the normal development of state power, the relationship between religion and politics has become increasingly alienated, which has become a symbol of political progress.

④ Relationship with morality. Politics and morality are also closely related. In class society, morality is restricted by politics and serves the interests of a certain class. Morality can create a social order conducive to consolidating state power and its related psychological foundation, and contribute to the normal operation of politics, especially the maintenance of state power. At the same time, politics also plays a great role in the formation and development of morality, and the establishment and development of a moral fashion often needs the help of political forces.

Marx's Definition and Understanding of Politics

Definition: Politics is the superstructure based on economy, the concentrated expression of economy, and the sum total of various social activities and social relations centered on political power.

Understanding: ① the root of politics is economy, politics is the concentrated expression of economy, and political relations are ultimately determined by economic relations; ② The essence of politics is class relations. In class society, class nature is the basic feature of politics; The core of politics is political power. State power is the fundamental problem of political power, and any class must master the supreme sovereignty over the country or society if it wants to achieve its own goals; ④ Political activities are both science and art ... Politics, as a social phenomenon, has laws to follow.

Other thinkers' understanding of political concepts

(1) equate or attribute politics to ethics. It is believed that the highest purpose of politics is to make people and society reach the highest moral realm. The representative figures are Confucius, Plato and Aristotle.

② describe politics as a process of legislation and law enforcement. It is believed that the main phenomenon of politics-the state is the product of law, because the state is established to formulate and implement laws. Senator kelsen.

③ Take politics as "politics" and "governance". It is believed that politics is an activity of fighting for power, displaying strategies and playing politics. Representative figures Machiavelli and Han Fei.

(4) Take politics as a matter of "managing people", that is, managing public affairs. Representative figures Sun Yat-sen and Mackenzie.

⑤ Interpreting politics as an activity of the government to formulate and implement policies is an authoritative distribution activity to realize "social value".

Political celebrities

Politics is both science and art. (Lenin)

Politics is the way, task and content of participating in state affairs, guiding the country and determining state activities. (Lenin)

The most important thing in politics is the establishment of state power. (Lenin)

Politics is a struggle between classes. (Lenin)

The best politics in the future is to talk less about politics. (Lenin)

The meaning of the word politics is simply that politics is everyone's business, governance is management, and managing everyone's business is politics. (Sun Yat-sen)

Politically, experiment means revolution. (disraeli)

Political generosity is always the wisest. (Burke)

Politics is the concentrated expression of economy. (Lenin)

The boss behind politics is always money. (romain rolland)

Compared with the economy, politics cannot but take the first place. (Lenin)

I believe there is such a sacred Mayan law in politics: "For the benefit of some people, others must make sacrifices". (Swift)

Politics is just a science in which society develops in an orderly way in its most practical and convenient way. (Wilson Wu)

Politics is the science of dealing with emergencies. (Lucy Burke)