These incidents, as well as many other ongoing current affairs, have got me thinking about how we approach politics and what is an ideal way to tackle this complex matter.
READ: Pardon my politics: The importance of politics
In my previous post, we looked at politics as a realm of necessity and why it is essential to organising society, managing individual choice versus collective choice.
In this week’s piece, I’d like to scratch the surface and tell you about the three ways to approach politics.
Essentially the way in which we approach politics leads to how we as a citizenry understand how and why our leaders make the choices they do.
It also gives our political leaders a lens through which they see the problem and the world we live in, and depending on their approach to politics, it will consequentially lead to a specific outcome.
Thus, I think it’s important that you as a patriotic South African citizen, who is committed to the betterment of our society, understand these approaches.
By understanding them, you will be able to question your leaders on the decision made not just on a personal or emotional or ‘couch-critic level’, but that of a critical and deeper understanding of politics, and how it needs to better you and society.
The three easiest ways to approach and understand politics are: art of government, compromise and consensus, and power.
Politics as the art of government is considered a narrow way at looking at politics, sometimes also a negative way of looking at it.
This approach refers to the idea that anything political has to do with government, or anyone in a public office is doing politics.
It is considered an ‘art’ as it has in mind how government exercises control, makes decisions and enforces them.
This approach is often the view of the layman – that politics is not for them; it’s something that government does.
This is a negative view, as you often get citizens who distance or alienate themselves from government and choose not to get involved. This creates a disconnect between society and its leaders.
When there is a disconnect between society and leaders, you often have issues of tensions where citizens and leaders are at loggerheads over issues, for example, e-tolls in Gauteng.
Politics as compromise and consensus is one of the most common ways to approach politics.
It’s an ideal way to resolve conflicts in societies which are highly diverse and multicultural, such as South Africa.
You often hear the phrase “political solution” in the media.
This is when the conflicting parties look for some sort of compromise or consensus on an issue, and this is a preferred choice to that of the ‘military solution’ which involves fighting versus a peaceful solution.
Think back to the little analogy I gave a few weeks ago.
A practical real-world example would be the formation of democratic South Africa.
The old regime wanted a specific style of state versus a different version by the new incumbents.
Thus, this conflict of ideas resulted in a compromise of ideas and consensus on how the new South African state should look like.
This view is a far more positive approach to politics, that by some form of compromise or consensus we create a better society for all.
Finally, politics as power – which is my favourite way of looking at politics – is considered the broadest and most radical.
In this sense, politics takes place on every level of society and social interaction.
It can be found in families, your local sports club and the global stage of international politics.
Essential to this view is that those who control the ‘power’ can influence a decision among people or achieve the desired outcome through whatever means.
The use of power allows those in charge to determine who gets what, when and how.
This view is also a negative one and associated with oppression. As my one of my favourite political philosophers Machiavelli puts it: “It’s better to be feared than loved.”
This approach draws heavily on power politics whereby one or a few powerful individuals control the politics in our society.
That being said, the above three approaches gives you a basic understanding about the common lenses through which one can see politics.
I leave you with a few question to ponder: think about your daily activities at work or at home, and consider what approaches to politics do you use? Are things at work or your home run on compromise and consensus, or power?
Or is it that you don’t use politics at all and it’s a government thing only?
Also, look at local or international political news and try use one of these approaches to try to understand the nature of that issue.
About the author:
Proud Benonian Jervin Naidoo (26) is a Rynfield resident. He is currently doing his master’s degree in military and security studies. He is a junior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies and a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, at the University of Pretoria.
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