Politics and Democracy: An introduction

Politics and Democracy: An introduction Sonam Chuki and Jit Tshering

This Module • An Introduction to politics and democracy • Basic ideas and concepts for politics and democracy • What defines politics as an activity? • What defines democracy? • Different traditions, schools of thought and the models of democracy that have arisen • The technical ways of organising democracy • The different ’actors’ in a democratic political system and their roles • What democracy means for Bhutan

Some issues • Are you apolitical? • Is local government political? • Is National Council political? • First constitutional case…. What does it depict of our democracy? • Is our democracy good? • Should the members of the political parties be a chance to join civil service? • Can you vote without being aligned to a political party?

Issues contd. • Constitutional Development Fund: is it constitutional ? • Should parties be funded by the state? • Our parties need more maturity?? • Our country was/is not ready for democracy! • Our democracy is with strong check and balance.

What we hope you get out of the module • An understanding as to what politics includes and covers • A concept of democracy and an understanding and recognition of the diversity in approaches to democracy and of experiences with democracy • A sense of your own (future) role(s) in a democratic system, and that of other main ’actors’ such as politicians, political parties, civil society organisations (NGOs etc), the media, and not least individuals or citizens • An ability to face challenges and change with more tools in your toolbox!

‘Politics’ ……… Competing perspectives …

Politics: Contested Concepts • Power, freedom, democracy…these are all ‘contested concepts’ • Our challenge: • Determining the usefulness of competing understandings • Don’t expect ‘clear answers’… • strive to understand and appreciate competing perspectives

So…What is politics?

Politics is ..... • Making, amending, preserving the general social rules by which we live • Inevitably linked to conflict and cooperation • Organising our public lives • Yet tends to be seen as a ’dirty word’ • Tends to be a general agreement to disagree as to what the subject is about • Similarly what spheres should politics be permitted into (government, public life, private life, etc)

So ... • Politics as the art of government • Politics as public affairs • Politics as compromise and consensus • Politics as power and the distribution of resources

Politics as the Art of Government (narrow) • Politics takes place within a polity; a system of social organization centred upon the machinery of government • Cabinet rooms, legislative chambers and parliaments, government ministries and departments • Practiced by politicians, civil servants, lobbyists • Businesses, schools, community groups, families, etc. are outside of politics, are non-political as they are not engaged in running the country

contd • Even narrower definition could be politics is about political parties – rest is just implementation • However – this is generally seen as too narrow now E.g. Note difference between government and governance • Government: a collection of organisations and institutions • Governance: broader, embracing the ways that social life is coordinated

Narrow Definitions • Politics pertains to the ‘public sphere’ and state authority… • Politics is the settling of conflict via the state • Only the state has the authority to make decisions that are binding on the whole community • The boundaries of politics are defined by state authority

Politics as Public Affairs • Beyond the machinery of government into the realm of public affairs or public life • Division between public life and private life (note civil society enters)

Narrow Definition • Politics is about government… • Activity, whose purpose is to reshape, influence or change the structures, processes, policies or personnel of government

Politics as compromise and consensus • Here the focus is more on the way that decisions are made rather than where they are made • Politics as conflict resolution, whether by • Compromise, conciliation or negotiation, rather than by force and naked power • Politics as ’the art of the possible’

Classic view of politics as the polity: • ”Politics (is) the activity by which differing interests within a given unit of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to the welfare and survival of the whole community” (Bernard Crick) • Politics as the solution to the problem that avoids violence and coercion

Politics as power • Broadest and most radical definition • Not limited to a specific sphere (the government, the state, the public realm, etc) • At the heart of all collective social activity, formal and informal, public and private, in all human groups, institutions and societies

Politics as power (contd) • Three faces of power: • Power as decision-making • Power as agenda setting • Power as thought control (influence by shaping thought, desires and needs) • Politics as the power to achieve an outcome through whatever means

Open Definitions • Politics is power… • The exercise of power • Power structured social relationships • Politics is conflict… • The resolution of social conflict • “Who gets what, when and how” • Competition and cooperation among individuals and groups

Open Definitions • Politics is the structuring of social relationships… • When people come together there is politics, it flows through and structures our social relationships

Definition • Politics is… • The struggles and other social processes which structure differential access to the material and symbolic resources that determine the conditions of our existence.

Definition • Politics is about power, conflict and social relations… it exists beyond public realm and the state… it is everywhere • BUT, not every dimension of our lives is political

Politics and the State • States are central to politics • Authority to make binding decisions • Sovereignty: supreme and final governing authority • Theoretical perspectives on politics are… • Theories of the state • Theories of state/society relations • Theories of power

Competing approaches… • Liberal Pluralism • Structural Institutionalism • Elite Theory • Class Analysis

Liberal Pluralism • Level of analysis / Notion of key political actors • View of state and society • Understanding of power • Conception of the ‘stuff’ of politics

Prisoners’ Dilemma (or approaches to politics!

The Political System outputs Government People (Demos) inputs Gate Keepers inputs

So to conclude • Politics has several definitions, can mean different things • Ways of approaching politics, of doing politics vary also • Not necessarily a ’right’ and a ’wrong’ way of approaching politics, but most agree violence and force should be avoided within a political system

So to conclude • The way of doing politics reflects different traditions of political thought (idealism, realism, structuralism/ marxism) • Each has a different view as to the nature and role of the state, similarly of the individual within the state and the type of government he/she is subjected to

Some questions for discussion • Why can politics have a negative image? • Is politics the same as party politics? Explain • Why do some people say that everything is political? What do you think they might mean?

Politics and Democracy: An introduction