Synonyms
History of political thought; Political philosophy
Introduction
It is no easy matter to discuss the basic concepts of politics. To do so requires both philosophical and historical reflection. Philosophical reflection considers such concepts in relation to truth; historical reflection considers them in relation to time. A basic concept of politics is one which enables us to state the problems of politics. “Liberty,” “justice,” “equality,” “rights,” and “democracy” are not basic concepts for this reason. They are the words for highly sophisticated answers proposed by some to the problems of politics. Anyone who takes any of those concepts to be basic is simply making a mistake.
The basic concepts of politics have been much written about in the western tradition of political thought. There are two types of basic concepts, those which clarify the questions raised by politics and those which attempt to state the answers to these questions. There are three sections in this chapter,...
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Alexander, J. (2018). Power and Politics: Basic Concepts. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20928-9_1355
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