Noun

politics (plural uncountable, sometimes treated as singular uncountable)

1. The practice of responding to conflict with dialogue.

   This issue should be solved with politics, not weapons.

2. Set of policies relating to governmental and legal matters

   I don’t like his politics.

3. Campaigning or arguing for a set of policies, or maneuvering for power

   I want to go into politics.

4. The study of disputes between rival political factions.

   Favoritism is the only use of politics. Richard L Kempe

5. Political affairs of life, party politics, local politics.

   He’s thinking of going into politics, e.g., trying to become a Member of Parliament.

6. Political views or beliefs.

   What are your politics?

7. rivalry between political parties

   They’re not concerned with welfare: it’s all politics!

Related terms

• police
• policy
• political
• politician
• politicize
• politic
• polity

Politics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

"Politics" ultimately comes from the Greek word "polis" meaning state or city. "Politikos" describes anything concerning the state or city affairs. In Latin, this was "politicus" and in French "politique". Thus it became "politics" in Middle English ( see the Concise Oxford Dictionary).

There is no academic consensus on the exact definition of "Politics", and what counts as political and what does not. Max Weber defined politics as the struggle for power.

As an academic discipline

Political science, the study of politics, examines the acquisition and application of power. Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behaviour, political economy, which attempts to develop understandings of the relationships between politics and the economy and the governance of the two, and public administration, which examines the practices of governance.