
Dr Asangba Tzudir
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said that “Politics is a noble activity in which men decide the rules they will live by and the goals they will collectively pursue” and added that “man is a political animal.” This definition is in correlation with his definition of the State - “State comes into existence originating in the bare needs of life and continues to exist for the sake of good life.” Looking at the way politics is understood today and the prevalent state of affairs, the nobility with which Aristotle defined politics, the spirit of the nobility and the democratic understanding of politics seems to have disappeared. Today it has not only become ‘dirty’ but so misplaced and reduced.
While Aristotle’s conception of politics aimed at the pursuit of the highest good for humans, in the modern turn, critics argued Aristotle’s conception as overly idealistic and prescriptive, that there is a shift towards pluralism and pragmatism over a singular universal good. Well, the contextual shift within a globalization framework maybe well taken in the broader dynamics of evolution. However, politics has only demoralised over the years where, we see that both ethical and unethical means used in today’s politics to achieve the various end ‘goals’.
So, how do we define politics today? For whatever politics is applied it needs to be value based. Mahatma Gandhi said that, “Politics without ethics is a sin.” where everyone especially those at the helm of affairs and governance and politicians need to have some basic ethical and moral values like, honesty and service to the public. Today, we see the results of the lack of it. Canadian born American Political Scientist David Easton (24 Jun 1917 – 19 Jul 2014) called Politics as “Authoritative allocation of values” where by values he meant democracy, equality, liberty, justice and such other cherished goals of humanity. As long as these values are provided to the citizens by its government through politicians, there will be peace and prosperity. However, in the absence of values of morality at various levels of human activity and set-up, such envisioning values are not applied and thereby do not reach the people. This answers the lack of, or inadequateness of policies in the so called understanding of politics.
So, the very understanding of politics is premised on ‘policies’ and how such policies can be framed applied in the context of the welfare of the people. Thus one may say that politics is policies, and which concerns the welfare of the people being ‘political animals.’ This is where the term ‘political’ also takes centre stage and which presses on the question - what does it mean to be political?
As such, everyone is political in their own right for action or for inaction in such a way that no one can escape politics. Politics is all around us - the system where we live, the laws we follow, the frontiers, the people in government, etc. they are there and make the rules for everyone and which continue to affect us even when we choose to not engage or ignore or is not aware. Those who are interested in politics can be said to be ‘political’ as compared to those who are ‘apolitical’ and not interested or ignore politics actually are also political in the sense that they let the interested others do ‘whatever’ with politics. In short, if you are not in politics or you are, you are political anyway.
As such, being political whatever and however, and where one may not be necessarily active in a party or in a publicly effective or proactive group, politics and being political means to participate in the political affairs and which also expresses political sensitivity. To participate politically means to think about the state of our society while seeking reasonable and sustainable policy approaches in recognizing what is good, the needs and aspirations of the people. Such criticality where one thinks well eventually makes anyone better informed. But such a political vibrancy can happen only when the lens of politics is bottom-up rather than a top-down model.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)