Abstract

This paper explores the implications of the disjuncture between the real-world practice of governance and the popular understanding of politics. There are two ways of addressing this disjuncture. The first is to accept the popular conception of politics and declare its relative decline, alongside the state, in the face of supra-national governance. The second is to challenge the popular conception of politics and include governance in a new, broader definition. From the view that empirical social scientific concepts are judged in terms of their utility, both to everyday discourse and to philosophical and theoretical discourses, a case is made for the second option. South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 26 (3) 2007: pp. 289-305