Research paper on Politics and Public Policy

Nowadays politics is an extremely complex area of human relations, and there is no doubt that management of the society in the interests of various social actors is one of its most important tasks, while these interests are often mutually exclusive.

The category “politics” is widely used owing to the work (by the same name) of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle viewed politics as a form of family communication for the purpose to create a happy, good life. Currently, the term is often referred to different kinds of influence and leadership. In such a way, politics is defined as the scope of activities associated with the distribution and exercise of power within the state and between states in order to achieve public safety. In the broadest sense, according to Bowles, Franzini & Pagano (1999), politics is interpreted not only as the activities of the organization of people living together in society, but also as a necessary and useful kind of management, while the political relationship is treated as a system of relationships between people that arise and develop this system over the organization and functioning of the government.

Thinking about the concept of public policy in the above mentioned frames of the development of political study, we can say that public policy is a general plan of political and administrative authority and control, aimed at solving important social problems (affecting the lives of citizens), and includes various items such as setting goals and priorities of social development, development and planning political strategy, analysis and assessment of the costs of alternative programs and policies, discussion and consulting, choice and public decision-making, monitoring and project evaluation, etc. Moreover, public policy is designed to reconcile the interests and to find an important consensus for stability. Modern society is socially structured again, and it is far from homogeneous, and more and more polarized. Every social group has its own interests, which are not necessarily those of the main public interest; it complicates the state social policy. Thus, the relevance of the work consists in the fact that public policy is one of the most important factors in the development of the country. The study of public policy is necessary for its further use in the formation of principles in all spheres of political activity. In such a way, the main aim of this paper is to discuss politics and public policy, taking into account all the main concepts associating with the topic.