electoral POLITICS the politics in some countries necessarily indicate a decline in importance of politics? Th who authors' sympathies lie with Maurice Duverger (1972: 19) argues, "The two-faced god, Janus, is the true image of power'. In other words, both conflict and consensus are essential elements to creation of a political situation. The imposition of one person's o group's interests on another by force and without any element of consent seems far from what most people understand by 'politics as Crick (2000) argues. On the other hand, a situation unlikely) in which a group in total agreement (as to goals and methods), proceeds to achieve more and more of its objectives does not sounds like a political process either Thus encompasses a broad range of situations in which people's objectives vary, but in which they work together to achieve those aims they have in common as well as competing where aims conflict. Both co-operation and competition may involve bargaining, argument and coercion. Politics may often be more an art than a science, and the art of politics may often be to see the potential for alliances rather than antagonisms amongst differing groups APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF POLITICS One of the joys, and also one of the frustrations, of the study of politics lies in the variety of approaches adopted by academic writers to the subject. This is a joy in the sense that within one course of study you will be introduced to a rich spectrum of writing ranging from classic philosophers like Plato (1866) and Aristotle through radical sociologists such as C. Wright Mills (1956) and Pareto (1976), to dedicated modern social scientists wielding statis- tical tests of significance to analyse huge volumes of computerised data, e.g. Robert Dahl (1971). It is frustrating in that the conclusions of such writers cannot be simply accumulated to form a certain body of knowledge representing the political scientist's view of politics Students of politics must be ready to live with uncertainty, to sift through varied sources and accept what seems to them to be relevant and valid The remainder of this chapter attempts to provide tools to enable students to do their own 'sifting', and to recognise why writers on politics differ so radically. We shall look at three main approaches to