In family life, a father may tell his son to do what wants and not what the son wants. It is so because the father this influence over his son. Or take the case of two children in a nursery school quarreling over a toy. The teacher would settle this dispute day giving or allocating the toy to one of the children. Similarly, in a college, a dispute between two students or groups
of students is decided by the principal in favor of one or the other student or students because he has authority to do so. In an office, two clerks may quarrel over a chair and their dispute may be decided by another clerk who has influence over them. Workers in a factory demand higher wages from their employers, who refuses to do so. They may accept his decision because he has authority over them. But if they threaten to go on strike in support of their demands, the employers may be constrained to accept them due to influence of their strike threat. Or take another example. Two persons may quarrel over a piece f land. They go to a court, where the judge decides their dispute according to the law and they submit to his decision.
Although these dispute and struggles may be, popularly or Journalistically, called as “hostel politics”, “campus politics”, “office politics” Politics” or the like, but really , but really they are not political. Reason is that that is and can be settled by an appeal to social customs, norms or laws. But they can become political if and when one of the two actors in the dispute refuses to accept the authority of the social norms or laws. Then the government, or more accurately, one or the other organ or department of the government will be involved in it. Thus, for example, the dispute between
Students in a college or university campus can become political when one or more political parties or personalities become involved in it. Similarly, a workers” strike for higher, wages, etc is only an industrial dispute. But it becomes political when one or more political parties or personalities, whether they are of the ruling party or not, become involved in the workers and employers dispute.
The reason why political parties or personalities become involved in the non- political disputes of the people is that by doing so they either aim at controlling the government or at maintaining their control over it. Hence politics is a struggle or confrontation between two or more parties or persons with a view to control the government so that one of them may impose its or his decision or policy on the other by means of governmental power and authority.
Why is there politics at all? Can’t we have a society without any Kind of political confrontation? No, it is not possible in human life and society. The causes of the political struggles and conflicts are as follows;
1. Material needs and wants of human beings are unlimited. But the means and resources to satisfy same are limited. Hence there must de a power or authority to decide or allocate them authoritatively to one or the other person or class of persons;
2. There are differences of opinion, beliefs and outlook among the people and one of them has to prevail over the other, which again needs an authoritative decision-maker or government;
3. similarly there are differences of religion, language, culture, color, sex, class, caste, clan, ideology or ways of life and some or want to impose one of them on others, who oppose them and hence arise conflict among them and the need for a government to settle;
4. Some persons or people want to establish what they call an ideal society or State, want to establish what they call a concept of the ideal society or state, or the method of establishing it:
5. In internal life and relations, may arise between two or more governments, states or nations over territories or for purposes of domination and exploitation or for war or for purposes of domination and exploitation or for war or for relations of peaceful co-operation, etc.
We may define politics as the means or the art of influencing, manipulating or controlling the people by controlling the Government so as to advance the interests or purposes of a group or party in the face of opposite on another group or party.