Politics
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. It is the authoritative allocation of values. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions.
In its most basic form, politics consists of "social relations involving authority or power". In practice, the term refers to the regulation and government of a nation-state or other political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply government policy.
In a broader sense, any situation involving power, or any maneouvring in order to enhance one's power or status within a group, may be described as politics (e.g. office politics).<ref name="freedict"/> This form of politics "is most associated with a struggle for ascendancy among groups having different priorities and power relations."
Political science (also political studies) is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power. Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behavior, and public administration, which examines the practices of governance. [1] [Apr 2007]
