Politics vs. public policy

Abstract

The article offers a conceptual and theoretical analysis of the relationships that hold among the four domains of politics: the discursive one – polis, the structural one – the political system, the behavioural one – political activity, the functional and technical one – public policies. In the case of each of these domains, policy consists in the application of power to large social aggregates (groups, formations, organisations). However, with reference to each one we may discuss different thematic scopes of power:
a. the discursive plane – the power over meaning,
b. the structural plane – the power over the system,
c. the behavioural plane – the power over the decision-making process,
d. the functional and technical plane – the power over the resources.

In my article, I propose to introduce a distinction among the four meanings of the concept of politics and a linguistic convention to capture this distinction. I believe that, on the one hand, it is necessary to develop the analytical capacity of social sciences, and on the other hand, to rationally design, organise and implement political activities, especially public policies.

In my opinion, the proposed analytical model has two major methodological advantages:
• it overcomes the false dichotomy between action and structure, consequently, the dichotomy between ideas-based politics and power-based politics,
• allows for the gradation of political subjectivity without adopting the view of the world of politics as an organisational hierarchy.

I conclude my analysis with the proposition that contemporary politics should be a multi-domain and polyarchic system combining discursive and technical aspects.