- Define politics and power
- Distinguish power, authority and legitimacy
- Explain what a state is
What Is Politics?
A family arguing over dinner, a union negotiating pay, nations signing treaties — all politics. Lasswell’s definition endures: who gets what, when, how.
Legitimacy is the recognised right to rule. Power forces obedience; authority — power seen as legitimate — gets voluntary compliance. Weber named three types: traditional, charismatic and rational-legal.
Key points
- Power: the ability to get others to do what you want (Weber).
- Authority: power accepted as legitimate — cheaper and more stable than force.
- The state: the institution claiming a monopoly on legitimate force in a territory.
- Politics happens everywhere power is contested — workplaces, families, friendships.
Some fear fines (coercion). Most accept the law’s right to set them (rational-legal legitimacy) — and many believe limits are right (shared values). Three kinds of compliance at one road sign.
Practice
Power is the ability to make others comply; authority is power regarded as legitimate, producing voluntary obedience.
Traditional (monarchy), charismatic (revolutionary leader), rational-legal (elected president, bureaucracy).
- Politics = the struggle over binding decisions.
- Authority is power plus legitimacy.
- The state monopolises legitimate force in a territory.
- Politics exists wherever power is shared and contested.