Inpolitical science(and within the discipline ofinternational relationsin particular), the concepthigh politicscovers all matters that are vital to the very survival of thestate:namelynationalandinternational securityconcerns. It is often used in opposition tolow politics,which often designates economic, cultural, or social affairs.
History
editAlthough the idea of high politics has been present in all cultures and epochs,Thomas Hobbeswas the first to enunciate that survival (oftrade,thelaws,societal order) hinges upon a finite number of ingredients; these ingredients were embodied and provided by the state. Interpreting Hobbes, these ingredients are what one can call "high politics".
The term "high politics" in itself was probably coined during theCold War,given the stakes of anatomic war.[citation needed]The advent of theatomic bombmade it clear what was ultimately worth fighting for and what was not, hence, made clear what "high politics" meant. In that sense, theUnited Statesand the formerSoviet Unionwould have gone towarfor a direct atomic threat (Cuban Missile Crisis),[1]but would have never gone to war over "low politics", aboycottof the1980 Summer Olympics.Trade, for all its importance, is considered by most political scientists as "low politics", as it depends on specific security conditions to come into effect.
Low politics is a concept that covers all matters that are not absolutely vital to the survival of the state as the economics and the social affairs. The low politics are the domain of the state's welfare. It concerns all things about social orhuman security.Robert KeohaneandJoseph Nyedescribe that previously, theinternational relationswere based on a simple interdependence scheme based onnational security(high politics); nowadays the international relations are ruled by acomplex interdependencebased on domestic issues: low politics.[2]
Theclassical realisttheory of international relations only considers the high politics as relevant and completely rejects the low politics. The complex interdependence of theliberaltheory considers the low politics as fundamental without rejecting the high politics.
References
edit- ^Scott, Len; Hughes, R. Gerald (2015).The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Critical Reappraisal.Taylor & Francis. p. 17.ISBN9781317555414.Archivedfrom the original on July 29, 2016.RetrievedDecember 31,2015.
- ^Jackson, Robert H. and Sørensen, Georg. 2007. Introduction to International Relations: Theories and approaches. 3rd ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, p. 106
Bibliography
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- Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and. Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977)