The Basic Concepts Of Politics Politics Essay

Power is frequently defined by political sciecentists as the ability to influence the behaviour of others with or without resistance. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans as social being [1] ).

In our opinion, power is something that can affect what someone’s do, even if he/she would not act like they want.

These are some characteristics of power:

Influence: the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behaviour, opinions, etc [2] ). In politics, the ability to influence someone are really important. That’s way the influence included in a characteristic of power.

Have capacity to affect another person’s rewards and their selfregards.

Control: to exercise authoritative or dominating influence over [3] ). Controlling another invidual is one of the characteristic of power. It can control someone into the way he/she would not act.

Power can be latent or manifest. Latent are present but not visible, apparent, or actualized [4] ). Power being latent because sometimes we do not realize when we have some power in politics but we did not aware with our power. In case, it ca not seen by our eyes. And manifest are readily perceived by the eye or the understanding, evident, obvious, apparent, and plain [5] ).

For example, the manifest of power is like a president have power to lead a state. It can seen by our eyes and we can feel it.

These are some types of power:

Force

Force is physical power strength possessed by a living being [6] ). This type of power are really common in our life. Because we can see it everyday. For example, as a president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have a power to force people to obey the law.

Persuasion

Persuasion is the act of persuading or the state of being persuaded [7] ). Persuasion can be called by influence. If we have some power of persuading to others, we can easily leading other people.

Manipulation

Manipulation is the act of manipulating [8] ). Manipulation included in a type of power because sometimes the agent using his position for conceals the use of power. This is the one of way to win from others.

Exchange

Exchange is to give in return for something received [9] ). Exchange is use to incentives others. We can use the power to exchange something for reaching our purpose. For example, the seller doing an exchange to other seller. By this exchange, the first seller can promoted his goods to other seller.

Authority

‘in the sociology of politics authority is contrasted with mere power. Authority is being in a position to give an order that will obeyed because its legitimacy is accepted by those to whom the order is addressed, rather than simply being a command which being backed up by coercion, bribery, persuasion, etc. Exactly what it is that gives authority, and what are the sources of legitimacy in politics, is more complicated’ (David Robertson, Dictionary of Politics, Penguin 1993)

Where as power is the ability to influence the behavior of others, authority is the right to do so as “legitimate power.”( [10] )

Max Weber’s three types of authority :

Traditional authority is legitimated by the sanctity of tradition. The ability and right to rule is passed down, often through heredity. It does not change overtime, does not change overtime, does not facilitate social change, tends to be irrational and consistent, and perpetuates the status quo. In fact, Weber state : “The creation of new law opposite traditional norms is deemed impossible in principle.” Traditional authority is typically embodied in feudalism or patrimonialism. In a purely patriarchal structure, “the servants are completely and personally dependent upon the lord”, while in an estate system (i.e.feudalism), “the servants are not personal servants of the lord but independent men” (Weber 1958, 4). But, in both the cases the system of authority does not change or evolve.

Charismatic authority is found in a leader whose mission and vision inspire others. It based upon the perceived extraordinary characteristic of an individual. Weber saw a charismatic leader as the head of a new social movement and one instilled with divine or supernatural powers, such as a religious prophet. Weber seemed to favor charismatic authority, and spent a good deal of time discussing it.

Legal-rational authority is empowered by a formalistic belief in the content of the law (legal) or natural law (rationality). Obedience is not given to a specific individual reader – whether traditional or charismatic – but a set of uniform principles. Weber thought the best example of legal-rational authority was a bureaucracy (political economic).( [11] )

An alternative distinction of authority :

De Jure authority, or authority in law, operates according to a set of procedures of rules which designate who possesses authority and over that issues. Both traditional an legal-rational authority can therefore be viewed as forms as forms de jure authority.

De Facto authority, or authority in practice, operates in circumstances in which authority is exercised but can not be traced back to a set of procedural rules. This includes all forms of charismatic authority, and also what is called expert authority, when a person is recognized as being ‘an authority’ by virtue of his or her specialist skills or knowledge.(10)

Order

Order can be interpreted as the continuity, namely the lack of change in a country. So it can be said that the country is in a straight line without any bends. For example, in our own country, from the beginning until now and extend the lazy culture still maintained and no change habits to be on time. Maybe there are some people, or even just a small percentage of people who do change but it can not change a country overall so that the country is still said to be continuous. The name can be changed after a whole can make changes to certain habits.

Social order can be divided into two: continuity and change. Continuity as described above is obviously very different from his opponent, the change. Order are usually associated with the security and stability of a country. Security includes security studies associated with matters of state, such as the cold war that required a security. Security that the country was not hit by another country so that people feel safe and calm of protection provided.

Physical security that is associated with security from attack another country, and commonly referred to military security. The another concept of security is defense. Common defense by arming every person is responsible for the defense. In the defense of our country is characterized by the presence of the Department of Defense.

Army has responsible for the defense of our country. Thus the army has a huge responsibility to the security and safety of the country, while in a state of war or a threat or not, soldiers must always be on guard. While the authorities maintain security in this country is a police order. But in the case of terrorism, is not only the responsibility of the police but should be the responsibility of all citizens.

Further, order can be divided into two, namely the political order and the natural order. Political order can also be referred to as a political order. Political order usually associated with discipline and loyalty. While the natural order comes from within every human being itself. For example, if in a country were there is a crisis of tolerance, one can say if it has a natural order in and of itself and without the encouragement of others he showed tolerance attitude.

Political concept concerning the order is very concerned with the security. Because if the occurrence of an order in a country, it would be the creation of a security in the country.

In other hand, order can be mentioned as the regime.

The regime is a set of rules, both formal (eg, constitution) and informal (customary law, cultural norms or social, etc.) that the conduct of a government and its interaction with the economy and society. For example, the United States has one of the oldest regimes still active in the world, formed since the ratification of the Constitution in the 1780’s. In theory, this term does not contain any implications of a particular government to which it refers, and most political scientists use it as a neutral term. However, the term is often used in popular culture with a negative or derogatory sense, as a reference to the government deemed oppressive, undemocratic or illegitimate, so in this context, the word implies rejection of moral or political opposition. For example, we probably will not hear the word “a democratic regime”. Political scientist Fred Judson, defining regimes as “the relationship between the state, society, market, and global insertion”. [12] 

I think the concept of politics means a situation in which every human being has to do a job, actions, deeds, words that are in compliance with applicable rules. So with this order of creation activities – political activities in civic life will be good and there will be no process of manipulation, cheating – cheating others.

Welfare

If we are talking about welfare we cannot separate it with wealth, happiness and prosperity. Those things are very related with welfare. Welfare is not always deals with physical but also unphysical.

Welfare state is one of idea that found by Otto Von Bismarck in 1850.For the simple goal of welfare state, it is created for protecting the society from the un fair spread of welfare. In the theory of welfare state, state is having big responsibilities and main role in caring its citizen. If we are making an analogy between state and citizen, they are like parents and children. When the citizen faces the difficulties it’s the duty for the state to help and solve the problem. The person that use this theory believe if state give more attention to the citizen the number of demonstration, violence, anarchism can be decrease. Here is four concepts in state welfare :

Creating peace full condition

Supplying social services

Decreasing budget for society

Controlling reproduction number

The people that’s pro with state welfare don’t agree with theory of revolution

that’s Marxism believe. Without revolution the change will come step by step without any radical action and avoid from big distortion. The most important value in this theory is distributing the money from the rich to the poor. In state welfare, labor and businessman have same level, the businessman isn’t become dictators that only ask to do something with labor but they also creating negotiation in order that the labor also having contribution for the development of economy not only as the tool for doing the policy that has created by businessman.

In the other side, every single thing in this world has good and bad side. Besides its good side there are also bad side inside of the state welfare such as :

The tax that is too high

In state welfare, the state offer free health services to the society but it makes the tax increase.

The government really concern and pay attention to the development of the state (surveillance)

The state really concern with citizen. The government having big responsibilities to caring the citizen, so when the citizen making faults the government will punish them.

There is no freedom. Freedom and secure its opposite. Freedom is the most big power that individual has, if freedom is really available so its mean there is only little space to maintaining secure.

Decreasing the spirit of the citizen to work harder. Here is the simple analogy, in welfare state the government giving an obligation to pay high in tax field. Its mean for the hard worker will contribute almost part. But if the government implement that policy, the jobless people will not pay high tax in other side the government give the same services to all the citizen. It will make precedent in society, what are the profit from our work hard ? if the government also give the same services to all the citizen without any exception between the hard worker an jobless. Its mean nothing for hard worker.

In UUD’45 the concepts of state welfare actually is exist yet, but in practice our country can not implement it truly because our society really heterogeneous consists of many religion and ethnic group.

One of the most beneficial that we can get from state welfare is there will be no more citizen that isn’t have good quality of life in social also in economic condition. There are several criteria for welfare state :

Good taxation system

Big social trust, if there’s no social trust there will be no one that pay the tax

There must be solid united of worker

Homogeneous society ( include of religion and ethnic group)

There must be solid of social institution, so the society will be usual with the rules of the games that created by government. Social institution for making regularity in society.

Justice

Justice (Latin: JÅ«stitia) is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity. It is also the act of being just and/or fair. As in definition of justice in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Justice/noun/ 1 the fair treatment of people; 2 the quality of being fair or reasonable; 3 the legal system used to punish people who have committed crimes. In times of pre-alphabetic writing, justice was conceived of as protection of the weak from being unfairly deprived of their due, that is, of the legal status, property rights, and economic condition to which their position in an established hierarchy entitled them. Here is an example: if a man has put out the eye of free man, they shall put out his eye.

Aristotle in his famous work The Nicomachean Ethics explains the virtuous and superior nature of justice. Aristotle stated that virtue differs to justice, because it’s about one’s moral state, while justice deals with one’s relations with others. According to Aristotle, justice must be distributed proportionately, i.e. a shoemaker and a farmer cannot exchange one shoe for one harvest, since shoes and harvests are not equal value. (Aristotle, book 5, part 5)(1)

Justice was somehow divided into two, based on the process it is applied. Those are procedural justice and substantive justice. To differentiate, procedural justice concerned with the proper application of rules. It relates to formal law, which is how to uphold the substantive law itself; meanwhile, substantive justice concerned with just outcomes. It’s about the real fairness in the substance.

The concepts of justice are social justice and legal justice. Social justice is exercised within a society, particularly as it is exercised by and among the various social classes of that society. A socially just society is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, understands and values human rights, and recognizes the dignity of every human being. (3) Social justice is abstract, means it’s not particularly implemented, but as result of breaking the applied virtues in a society, it chooses to socially punish; i.e. be excommunicated. Legal justice is justice in society relies on formal law as the result of law-breaking mistakes, with punishments and/or rewards. Legal justice is the absolute standard for a society to maintain their lives with virtues.

Talking about justice is somehow a very sensitive topic for some people. Justice is an absolute value to every single person in this very world, that every person reserves the right to be treated fairly, or as we say, justly. Justice has to be owned by everybody, despite neither the social status nor any differences. In short, justice is actually the exact -let us say, thing-to equalize the differences itself. If we apply justice in most of our life, we can get the “goods” of life, for justice is basically the fundamental value in every aspects of life. Freedom, rights, happiness, etc., need justice. Like everybody would know, without justice, what the world would be? Doomsday in the very first day Adam and Eve stepped down to earth.

Justice can be found either done anywhere, anytime, and with anybody. Law itself is an attribute to justice application. People make mistakes, and some mistakes effecting others and society. Such of mistakes cannot be disobeyed. Or else, society would be a mess just because one’s mistake.

Seeing people nowadays, justice is more applicable to the society rather than in law. In words, social justice seems better than legal justice. Law institutions sometimes cannot apply the real law, means they cannot balance between the mistakes and the punishments. They cannot apply the usage of law well. Whereas, people in law institutions are actually the most justifiable persons since they -have to-understand the law and the meaning of justice itself.

Nation State as Political actors

The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit.[1] The word ‘sovereign’ here means that everyone includes in that nation state must obey the nations’ rules in order to reach political goals together. This means that the law that nation state made is forbidden to be disobeyed by the people in that nation. The word ‘territorial’ means that a nation state must have a certain region that the nation rules. So everything inside that region must obeyed everything the nation state told.

Also Roger F. Soltau in his book “Introduction of Politic” (1961), said that politic learns about nation, nation’s goals and institutions that will fulfill that goals, relation between nations and its people and to the other country.[2]

The statement above shows us how a politic directly linked to nation. So, nation state is included in political actors because it’s directly linked to the purpose of politic itself. Nation state as political actors we think is nation state as the subject of politic. Why nation state here is a political actor? It’s because nation state do the politic by those who runs that nation state. Relation between politics and nation state can’t be separated because one of the most important political actors is nation state. Nation state as a political actor enveloped individual and society as political actors.

Individual as Political actor

Individual as political actor means that every people in a nation state is a political actor. Because sometimes out of their consciousness they do the politic in their daily life. Also the people who runs the nation state must be a individual that do politic for nation state’s goals. Aristotle said in Politic, man is by nature a political animal. This statement explain us that what makes us different from animal is that human do the politic while animal doesn’t.

Human do politics. This sentence directly indicates that human is a political actor because of political actions they took in their life. And because of human is a social creature, every political step they took will affect the other human’s life. Everyone is linked to the other.

Global and National Organization as Political Actors

In political world we know many kinds of political actors. Those political actors are people or organizations either government or nongovernment which do political activities. In political world they usually known as political organization. There are many kinds of political organization, from national to global.

The national political organizations usually is a political organization that work in government subject. They do political activities that connect with the government. These political organizations usually do some political activities that has a connection with the people in a country. Those organizations are :

Political Party :

There are some definitions about political party which are explain by some expert, such as Carl J. Friedrich : “political party is some people that organized stabily with the purpose to take or defend government`s power to the party`s leader, and based on this conquer, it gives some benefits or materials to its members.”, R. H. Soltou : “political party is some civilian that more or less organized, that act as one in politic, that use the choosing power to conquer the government and execute their public policy.”, Sigmund Neumann : “political party is an organization from political activists that try to conquer the government`s power and take over the people`s support based on the competition against the other group with different thoughts.”, and Miriam Budiarjo : “political party is a group which is organized which its members have the same orientation, values, and dreams with the purpose of gain the power of politic and take over the political power (usually), by the constitutional way to do their policies.”. The point is that political party is an organization from a group of people that have political purpose and do political activities which do to achieve their purpose. The example of political parties in Indonesia are Demokrat, Nasional Demokrat, Gerindra, Golkar, PKS, PPP, etc.

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partai_politik

Government`s Legislative Organization:

“legislative is a government`s deliberative organization with power to make law. In parliament system, legislative is the highest organization. In presidential system, legislative is a branch of the same government and free from the executive. Legislative usually also has power to rise the tax and decide the budget of money outcome.”. So, the legislative organization is an organization of law making in a country. The example of the legislative organization in Indonesia are MPR, DPR, and DPD.

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislatif

Government`s Judicative Organization :

“the judicative organization has function to implement the power of justice with the purpose to maintain the law and justice.”. The example of judicative organization in Indonesia are Supreme Court and Constitution Court.

http://setabasri01.blogspot.com/2009/02/yudikatif-di-indonesia.html

Government`s Executive Organization :

“executive is also called Government or Kingdom in the parlement system. This organization responsible to execute the government rules that have been agreed by the legislative. The chief of executive in a republic country called the president, while on the other country called the prime minister.”

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eksekutif

There are also political organizations that have global range is political organizations that do political activities in international world. These political organizations have members not only from one nation, but also from some nations. The purposes of these organizations are the purposes that have connection with the whole world. Those organizations are :

Transnational Corporation :

“all corporations that import or export is involved in transnational economic activity. If they loby the foreign government about the trade, they will be the transnational political actor (TNCs) until they open branches or develop their small company outside their country`s environment.”. The example of the transnational corporations are KFC, Coca Cola, Google, Honda, Nike, etc.

http://blog.ub.ac.id/universalr/2012/04/02/aktor-transnasional-dan-organisasi-internasional-di-politik-global/

International Organization :

International organization is an organization which its purposes involved the whole world and its members came from many nations and countries. These organizations usually nongovernment organizations because its purposes are not for a country or a nation, but for the world. The example of these organizations are UN, ASEAN, NATO, etc.

The global and national organizations are the important political actors that fill the politic world today, and of course have a big influence to all of us in every activeities and decisions they make.