Politics 101

Updated 22 January 2026

Welcome to Politics 101, a simple, straight-forward guide to politics.

What Is Politics?

The word politics comes to us from the Greek πολῑτῐκός (politikos), which refers to aspects of a citizenGreek: πολίτης, polites of a city-stateGreek: πόλις, polis such as ancient Athens or Babylon. This public activity was contrasted with the private activity of economicsGreek οἰκονομία, oikonomia, which describes the norms, customs, or "law"Greek: νόμος, nomos of the householdGreek οἶκος, oikos.

Politics has since come to refer to the activity of societies and governments in general, whether that be the empires of the recent past, the nation-states of modern republics, or the self-governing communities and trades promoted by anarchists. Therefore, politics can be viewed as any activity in which sapient organisms confer to live and work within the same territory. This broad category can be contrasted with statecraft, which is a subset of politics concerned with the administration of statesWeber, Max. "Politics as a Vocation." 1918. "a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.", and electoralism, the mechanism by which democratic nations select some of their government officials.

Next, we will examine common terms and the political spectrum.