1 [James Alexander, ‘Power and Politics, Basic Concepts’, in Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance ed. Ali Farazmand (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018), pp. 4888-4995. ISBN 978-3-319-20927-2. Though I was asked to write an exercise in ‘tertiary literature’, this short piece expresses in its three sections three independent theories of politics I have not yet published elsewhere (the six nexuses, the four paradigms, and the definition, which is a simplification of the line of thought evident in ‘Notes Towards a Definition of Politics’—a simplification because here I suggest that politics, at one level, can be considered to be identical with ruling).] Power and Politics: Basic Concepts JAMES ALEXANDER 1. Introduction It is no easy matter to discuss the basic concepts of politics. To do so requires both philosophical and historical reflection. Philosophical reflection considers such concepts in relation to truth; historical reflection considers them in relation to time. A basic concept of politics is one which enables us to state the problems of politics. ‘Liberty’, ‘justice’, ‘equality’, ‘rights’ and ‘democracy’ are not basic concepts for this reason. They are the words for highly sophisticated answers proposed by some to the problems of politics. Anyone who takes any of those concepts as basic is simply making a mistake. The basic concepts of politics have been much written about in the western tradition of political thought. There are two types of basic concepts, those which clarify the questions raised by politics, and those which attempt to state the answers to these questions. There are three sections to follow in this chapter, one for the questions, one for the answers, and one for politics itself.