Policy Definition

1. Politics is the set of theoretical and practical knowledge by virtue of the exercise of the government of a nation.

2. Characteristic system of government of a community -city/nation-, determined by the presence of a central authority responsible for managing the structures that regulate the life of the members of this society, subject to guaranteeing social order.

3. Relationship in negotiations between different governments based on mutual and/or private interests. Example: ‘Politics between North and South Korea remain sensitive’.

4. One who exercises a direct function or is directly linked to the government. Examples: A) ‘His work in politics as a deputy is already in his third term.’ B) ‘As a union leader he is very involved with the politics of the region’.

5. Higher education dedicated to studying the different ways of managing society.

6. Set of rules that guide relationships within a given institution or activity. Example: ‘School policy does not allow physical or verbal abuse’.

Etymology: by latin policyfeminine of politecuswith respect to the Greek πολιτική (politikḗ), feminine of πολιτικός (politicos), Constituted by πολίτης (polite), as soon as citizenabout πόλις (polis), which refers to ‘city’, ‘state’, in combination with the suffixes -της (-tes) according to the substantivization, and -ικός (-ikos), depending on the adjective.

Grammatical category: noun fem.
in syllables: policy.

Policy

by the greek politicos which, in turn, refers to the cops, that is, the city, is a concept that involves everything related to the exercise of citizenship, with the public and social spheres. The Policy of Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) is considered as the starting point in thinking about politics as a thematic matter, under which the essence, functions, structure of the state and the forms of government; as well as, at the same time, descriptions of such topics were presented under a certain prescriptive content about how the civil order should be. The notion of “politics”, then, is consolidated as a systematized way of knowing about the set of facts that make up the political, namely, what refers to the community sphere, in the context of the state.

This knowledge related to the set of activities that occur in the polis thus implies knowledge about the ordering —based on prohibition or permission— of the behaviors of the members of a social group within a certain territory; which is materialized in legislation through regulations and their execution. On the other hand, not only behaviors are ordered, but also the distribution of the material resources that society has, so that a close link is established between politics and economy. In this sense, political action is always linked, in one way or another, to the exercise of power, understood as the ability to influence, condition and govern the behavior of others. When the actions taken within the sphere of politics involve other political bodies (for example, in trade, in diplomatic acts, the conquest of territories or in military defense), then one speaks of a foreign policy.

political philosophy

Towards modernity, politics as a set of knowledge around the ways of governing began to acquire other names, namely: state science, political science, political philosophy. In general lines, political philosophy includes the argument, from different systems of thought, about problems related to power. This can be thought of as the theorization of an ideal model of the state; as an inquiry into the foundations and legitimacy of power; as an investigation about the criteria and the laws that make up politics; or as a critical discourse about political praxis. The contractualism of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, as well as the developments of Kant, Hegel, Weber or Marx, are decisive for modern political philosophy.

Confuciusrelated good performance as a ruler with ethical aptitude, considering that only a virtuous man should have authority; Plato He argued that all political systems are corrupt by nature and that the government should fall to a class educated for that activity; Aristotle He assured that politics is intrinsic to the nature of man, that it is necessary to live in full morality and that any form of government can have a correct and an incorrect aspect; Nicholas Machiavelli He asserted that the end justifies the means, summarizing a position consisting of accessing positions of power through the use of subterfuge; Thomas Hobbes he referred to a hypothetical state of nature in which men would have absolute freedom, an aspect that would trigger constant confrontations, for which reason a social contract would be necessary; John Locke he was opposed to the state of nature implying a constant struggle; Jean-Jacques Rousseau he assigned other nuances to the idea of ​​social pact developed by Hobbes and Locke; john stuart mill he extolled democracy as a great advance; and finally, Karl Marx He assured that every form of government up to the time represented a ruling class. According to the latter, society is governed by a class struggle to be “the dominant class.” In this sense, Marx states that society is a constant class struggle, and the conflict is imminent and permanent.

Within democracy, the representative form assumes that individuals elect their representatives by voting, but their participation does not extend beyond this voting action. On the other hand, participatory democracy supposes a much broader activity of citizens in the political area, such as popular consultations or public hearings. Beyond the position regarding the exercise of this activity, the truth is that it is necessary to live in society. The widespread opinion that associates it with situations of corruption may be true, but it does not invalidate its relevance. Only with education in this matter is a better citizen integration ensured, and therefore, greater and better participation..

In a global context of crisis and questioning of the activity of government representatives, the effervescence of the political activity of society in general has been fostered in recent years. Protests, mobilizations, demonstrations in different parts of the planet allow us to reflect social action in terms of fighting for the rights of citizens and protesting for improvements in the current economic/political systems.

For its part, the political model of a state is complemented by a predominant economic model. Without the economy, political action cannot be thought of. At present, always within the capitalist system, two models can be clearly differentiated: the neoliberal one where the action of the state is limited, and does not regulate the market, because it regulates itself and is capable of amending its own shortcomings, and the populist model, that proposes an intervening state, which regulates financial/economic activity, and seeks to balance the gaps between rich and poor.

Politics and the political

One of the most relevant discussions in contemporary thought around the political question has been the distinction between the concepts of politics and the political. On the one hand, the political refers to the instituting dimension of the social order, linked to moments of conflict, from which institutions emerge or are transformed —and which, therefore, is not limited to processes that occur within the “official” channels offered by the institutions.

On the other hand, politics refers to the administration of what is given in the sphere of what is already instituted. The political, as a consequence of its constitutive indeterminacy, reaches spaces that exceed politics, such as the cultural, the social, language, ways of life and sociability. By imprinting an order on the political, politics constrains the plurality of possible order alternatives to only one, that is, to an administration of what is given among others, equally contingent. However, politics does not imply the annulment of the political once a certain order is instituted, but it inaugurates a tension, the social conflict, which is incorporated as an inherent feature of the social order: no social process could, in this sense, to be exempt from antagonisms.

Following