What is Political?
- 1 April 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Theoretical Politics
- Vol. 11 (2), 207-231
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0951692899011002004
Abstract
Our conceptions of politics ought to: (a) help clarify our normative interests in politics; (b) encompass everyday understandings of politics; and (c) define the domain of politics in ways that serve explanation. Events in the last couple of decades - from the rise of new social movements to the end to the Berlin Wall - have combined with shifts in the culture of expectations within political science to overtake most of our received definitions in these respects. I offer a conception of politics that focuses on the intersection of power and conflict, and argue that such a conception is more in accord with our political world today than are most common conceptions, especially in light of new concerns with democracy and democratization. Finally, I show how this conception illuminates our contemporary understandings of democracy.Keywords
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