Around the globe, the word ‘Politics’ very
often carries negative associations. In my opinion, the reason for this is the
inextricable link between politics and power.
Politics exists wherever a hierarchy
of power is present, and it is the very thirst for power that has polluted the
image associated with a political framework. In his book; Andrew
Heywood accurately suggested that Politics in modern society has become a ‘dirty
word’ usually associated with power-hungry individuals willing to go to any
extent in order to move up the ladder of hiearchy. This image of the word is
rightly built based on evidence from the past, for example, Spiro
T. Agnew who was then the Vice President of the United States, was convicted and
forced out of office for accepting bribes and the former President of Pakistan,
Asif Ali Zardari was accused of killing his wife for his personal political
gain.
These
unethical acts can be explained using the words of Lord Acton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Hence
the evolution of an adverse image associated with the world of Politics is
somewhat justified.
3 comments:
Although the article presents a compelling argument it tends to overestimate the causal relationship between politics and corrupted power. It is likely that the correlation does not represent a causality. Moreover, the thesis implies a link between politics and power, to which the negative connotations of the word are attributed, it is more convincing to attribute this to corrupted cases of power and not a broad generalisation of power itself.
Lastly, the cases mentioned represent stated facts more than they represent a justification of the negative image associated with politics.
Although power in politics bring corruption and some social evils in the picture, these social problems then need power to stop these problems. For instance a corrupt prime minister can be expelled of accused using the power residing in judisiary or maybe president (in some constitutions). Hence to repel evils associated with power in politics, the power itself present ways.
Basically you're suggesting that since power corrupts and politicians seek out power, therefore politics is corrupt and rightly viewed as "dirty". But as Zara notes, correlation does not imply causation. Hence correlating power with how politics is perceived may not be the case.
But then again, maybe you're right and this could be a reason why politics is viewed as bad by the masses.
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