Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in other 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.




The word "Politics" comes from the Greek word Πολιτικά (politika) from politic (adj.), modeled on Aristotle's "affairs of state," the name of his book on governing and governments, which was rendered in English mid-15 century as Latinised "Polettiques." In Latin, this was "politicus" and in French "politique". Thus it became "politics" in Middle English (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary).