ABSTRACT
When politics is happening, what is happening? The answer, of course, is that many different things can be happening, and political scientists are quite adept at dividing themselves into different camps around those variations. Politics is a struggle for power among groups. It is a problem of collective action among rational agents. It is a transaction between leaders and followers. It is an expression of cultural norms structured by institutions. Other perspectives could be added, and each has its own particular merits and blind spots.
