According to the authors of the text, what is politics?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The authors utilize Harold Lasswell’s definition of politics (“who gets what, when, and how”) as the basis for their definition of politics. As such, politics acts as a means through which people can organize themselves into a social order and provide citizens with those things (goods and services) that they could not obtain on their own, without recourse to violence. Students should be able to list some of the tools of politics including discussion, deal-making, bargaining, bribery, and deceit, and explain how those tools guide the political process.