Conceptualizing Politics

POLITICS AND POWER

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4  What is politics?
try to justify and coordinate their actions. Only on the basis of this complex under-
standing does it make sense for political philosophy to evaluate general goals such 
as justice, or the models of society such as democracy that actors mean to pursue 
in their political life. Without this frame of reference, mere normative indications as 
to how best shape the polity must remain futile. The political philosophy the reader 
will become acquainted with in these pages is rather different from what is meant 
by this expression in today’s mainstream literature.