of lacking scientific objectivity or of making unwarranted assump-
tions, as is a writer on politics. One of the problems is associated with
whether we are talking about politics as a human activity or politics as
an academic activity – or, in American terminology, politics or
political science. The search for truth about how human beings
exercise power might be thought to be completely separate from
actually seeking to exercise that power. But in practice, as we shall
see, political ideas are some of the most important weapons in the
politician’s armoury. Attempts to ignore this are either naive or,
quite frequently, a deliberate attempt to present a controversial poli-
tical ideology as an indisputable political fact.
In this light it is worth considering rather critically the impli-
cations of some of the standard academic definitions of politics and of
power (Box 1.1).BOX 1.1 DEFINITIONS OF ‘POLITICS’ AND ‘POWER’
4 POLITICS
Politics
The science and art of government; the science dealing with the form,
organisation and administration of a state or a part of one, and with
the regulation of its relations with other states.
(Shorter Oxford English Dictionary)... a way of ruling divided societies by a process of free discussion and
without undue violence.
(Bernard Crick, 2000)
... who gets what, when, how.
(H. Lasswell, 1936)
... man moving man.
(Bertrand de Jouvenal, 1963)
... the authoritative allocation of value.
(David Easton, 1979)