The Purpose of Politics

By Philip Tether

THE PURPOSE OF POLITICS. This is the first in a series of books on government and politics designed for students and the general reader (see 'other publications' for a full list of titles). All the books interlink and cross-reference but are designed to stand alone. This introductory text starts the series with a detailed examination of politics. It asks a number of important key questions such as what is politics and how can we define it? Who does politics and why and how? What are its uses and abuses? Throughout, emphasis is placed on politics as an attempt to influence authoritative decision-making in many settings employing a wide range of resources. The text opens with a clear statement of Aims and Learning Outcomes to give clarity and direction to your reading. The subsequent text is then divided into easy-to-read sections on:
Governments and states
Nation states and their citizens
Welfare capitalism
Political legitimacy and obligation
Doing politics
The status of politics
The book concludes with:
Politics: a summary
Review questions
References
Throughout, the material is carefully designed to equip the reader with a basic political vocabulary and an appreciation of the significance of politics as an important, pervasive and irreplaceable activity involving us all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philip Tether
• Release date: Nov 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311689863

Philip Tether

Philip Tether has taught government and politics for over thirty years at a number of higher education institutions in the UK. During this time he has taught a wide variety of students and supervised many Masters dissertations and PhD theses. He has set and marked government and politics papers for a variety of examination boards. He has published extensively on a variety of political topics with particular emphasis on the politics of health including alcohol and HIV-AIDS and his current research interest is the business – government relationship. Philip Tether enjoys the theatre, cinema and walking the dogs. You will sometimes find him in the garden.

Book preview

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICS

IDEAS, STRUCTURES, PEOPLE AND PLACES

No. 1: THE PURPOSE OF POLITICS

Copyright 2015 Dr. Philip Tether

Published by Dr. Philip Tether at Smashwords

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The Purpose of Politics

Dr. Philip Tether

This is No 1 in a series of introductory texts each addressing an aspect of politics. The current and forthcoming title list is shown below. They are free-standing but link together to present a multi-layered analysis of the ideas, structures, people and processes which go to shape the world of politics. The author has taught government and politics in various higher education institutions for over thirty years. The focus is largely but not exclusively on the United Kingdom (UK). Where appropriate, examples and illustrations are drawn from around the world. The material is designed to be accessible to students at all levels from beginners to university students. ‘Aims,’ ‘Contents’ and ‘Learning Outcomes’ are specified at the start of every text and each concludes with an overview summary and a set of review questions for independent learning.

The current title list includes:

No 1: The Purpose of Politics

No 2: Political Systems

No 3: Popular Democracy

No 4: Liberal Democracy

No 5: Political Ideology and the Liberal Centre

No 6: Political Ideology: Politics on the Right

Forthcoming titles are planned:

No 7: Political Ideology: Politics on the Left

No 8: The Politics of the European Union (EU)

No 9: The politics of Global Governance

No. 1: THE PURPOSE OF POLITICS

Aims of this text

The aim of this text No. 1 is to provide a comprehensive introduction to the notion of politics; what it is, who does it, why and how. For illustrative purposes, the discussion is closely linked to British politics and the British political system though the analysis is wide-ranging and draws on examples from around the world. The material is designed to equip the reader with a basic political vocabulary and an appreciation of the significance of politics as an important, pervasive and irreplaceable activity involving us all.

Learning outcomes

After reading this text you should be able to understand and discuss:

* Governments and states.

* The components of political obligation.

* The nature and function of politics.

* Politics defined as an attempt to influence authoritative decision-making in a wide variety of settings.

* The range of resources both coercive and persuasive which political actors can mobilise and deploy in order to influence authoritative decision-making.

Review Questions

At the end of this text you will find a selection of review questions to test your understanding of these learning outcomes

Table of Contents

The Purpose of Politics - this book series

Aims and Learning Outcomes

Governments and states

Nation states and their citizens

Welfare capitalism

Political legitimacy and obligation

Doing politics

The status of politics

Politics: a summary

Review questions

References

About Dr. Philip Tether

Other books by Dr. Philip Tether

Connect with Dr. Philip Tether

Governments and states

Picture this. You are in an aircraft coming in to land. As you descend through the clouds, suddenly, spread out below you are roads, houses, streets, factories as far as the eye can see – a sprawling metropolis. How, one might reasonably ask, does all this work? How does it ‘hang together’ in such a way as to enable untold numbers of people to live and work together? Isn’t it a miracle that a million lavatories flush in unison every morning and a million people set out to work? The reason that all this is possible is that the people below you are subject to common rule. Common rule is maintained through and by political institutions in general and government in particular. Governments enforce order, make all-embracing policies affecting all and organise daily life in a thousand ways. Government makes a common life possible.

This positive view is not shared by anarchists (‘an-archy’ – no government) who believe states, authority and leadership are all expressions of domination and that spontaneous human co-operation without authority structures is possible. Examples of truly leaderless societies are difficult to find. Hunter gather groups without ‘chiefs’ sometimes qualify as leaderless societies living as they do in small egalitarian tribes or kin groups where decisions are taken apparently on the basis of consensus.

The best contemporary example a society based on anti-authoritarian anarchist ideals in the developed world is Freetown Christiana in Denmark which is a commune set up by squatters in 1971 in an abandoned military base. It has just short of a thousand members and all decisions are reached by consensus through a network of committees. The objection of course is obvious. Freetown Christiana could not exist were it not for the fact it was embedded in and sustained by the Danish state.

If we reject anarchism on the grounds that it is utopian and impractical then it appears that some sort of common rule is necessary. We can regard this common rule as a necessary evil - any government is better than none. Alternatively, this common rule or government can be seen not just as a necessary evil but a precondition of civilised existence. The nineteenth century French critic and historian Hippolyte Taine (1828 - 1893) wrote that " History proves to us that the state, government, religion, church, all public institutions, are the only means by which wild and animal man obtains his