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The belief that politics is primarily a contest for power is a very limited view of politics. Politics is also a means for idea exchange, collective weighing of

• Supermancho 5y ago
  > The belief that politics is primarily a contest for power is a very limited view of politics. I think it's spot on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics
  • pc2g4d 5y ago
    "Politics (from Greek: Πολιτικά, politiká, 'affairs of the cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status." It's a framing to see "making decisions in groups" as only a matter of power relations. Why view it as only adversarial, when it could just as easily be cooperative?
• Barrin92 5y ago
  >Politics is also a means for idea exchange, collective weighing of priorities, debate, the proposal and then choice between competing visions, etc. That's what happens in a political community which has already established itself as such. That's not the fundamental character of the political. Collective weighing of priorities, debate, and so on can happen on a factory floor, or a science lab, or a lecture hall. It is not a distinguishing feature, but just a process. In fact a bunch of computers can weigh priorities and evaluate proposals. What actually defines the political domain is the distinction between friend and enemy, that is to say who can exist within the group you deliberate with in the first place, and who is out, it's always a matter of identity. So not only is power, as in reserving the right to eliminate who isn't part of the community part of politics, it's the precondition for any community to actually have a political life.
  • pc2g4d 5y ago
    I see it differently: when the distinction is between friend and enemy, there can be no politics, only war.