What Is Politics?

Politics, wrote the late Professor Frank Goodnow, "has to do primarily with the expression of the State will,... secondarily with the execution of that will." In essence, politics covers the broad realm of individual and group activities, whether of private or governmental origin, which constitute the process of influencing, formulating, or administering public policy. Included in the data of politics, according to David Truman, "are the behaviors of participants in the government, whether or not such activities fit the specifications of the legal blueprints...." Material bearing on the role of courts and judges in formulating policy of the State thus provides one kind of political data.