Political Agents Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Political agents are actors within the political arena who possess a special role and capability for advising elected or appointed policy makers. Many political agents are individuals with unique accessibility to politicians, often representing a specific agency or corporation, or some specific cause. By consulting with policy makers on their personal or representational political viewpoints and influence, political agents are, to a varying degree, indirectly involved in the process of political decision making. A political agent’s influence and involvement can be individual or collective, as in organizations or unions.

Motivation

The most important political actors or agents are political parties, interest groups, government bureaucrats, and parliaments’ committees and commissions. Agents are specialized to act on behalf of those they work for or represent. All political actors follow the current trends, interests, and strategies of politicians to take part in political decision making. By doing so, they follow an individual politician’s value orientation, goals and preferences, as well as contextual capacities. They can choose different strategies to guide policy makers who approach them for problem-solving techniques, mediating, or negotiating offers; they also rely on persuasion. The emphasis on seeking consensus or resolving a potentially conflicting situation varies, depending on the interests or parties involved. The decision-making processes and the political context shape relations among political agents, which can take the nature of competition, coalition, or a network.

A political agent is motivated by a certain goal. Usually, there is more than one goal and these are prioritized. In choosing how to act, an agent may encounter a conflict between private interests and collective, shared interests; at times, political agents use their personal emotions or ideas to guide their degree of policy influence. The view on the relevant factors of influence is divided between that of a homoo economicus and of a homo sociologicus. The homo oeconomicus is assumed to make decisions solely based on individual cost-benefit calculations and ability to prioritize preferences, while social norms and expectations guide the homo sociologicus.

Different Types

Political representatives, voted into office by their public, are political agents. They are to act on behalf of the constituents they represent and channel their public interests. The public perceives these representatives to oversee the government. In government, the representatives organize into committees to address specific issues. The government at large is then the largest political agent of a nation, interacting with other foreign national leaderships.

Political leaders serve as principle political agents for their followers as long as these followers see the particular leader’s performance as satisfactory, creating a codependency. Leaders are to coordinate and secure the goals and interests of their followers, similar to political representatives, but with a larger constituency. They also manage group activities and defend the group against opposition. However, at times, leaders work for private or personal gains superseding the public interests. Given this type of political agent’s concern for public reputation, in order to guarantee reelection and maintain popular support, this agent may be susceptible to outside control or pressures when protecting or sustaining the public image.

Political parties are another form of political agent. They not only produce government candidates but also mobilize support for and influence key political agenda issues. Political parties within the political system of a state manage and control their government. They do so by following the ideas shared by their party members. They have officeholders and activists and they influence their electorate. Parties inform the electorate of decisions in a democratic political system and create participatory expectations; as with representative democracies, they strongly mobilize the public.

As political agents, an interest group may form to redress a deficit felt by a private or public organization. This type of political agent, then, serves on behalf of the shared of that organization. Interest groups are to influence public opinion and policy making by increasing political participation. For example, labor unions may use public rallies to inform their constituents, or potential sympathizers, of a certain preferred electoral candidate, or a cause specific to their union’s members.

Finally, social movement or grassroots activists pursue reforms in the social, political, or economic realms to promote certain causes. These are found globally and such movements are not limited to appealing within a single state; some also advocate for increased international oversight or widespread global change. These types of political agents are powerful in influencing public opinion and public policy via their tactics to strengthen citizen access, increase social awareness, or challenge governments. These tactics may include publications, mailings, mass media and the Internet, personal contacts, meetings, phone calls, and public events, such as demonstrations.

Bibliography:

Bangura, Abdul Karim, Dawit Isayas, Gerald Smith, and Michael O.Thomas. Political Behavior. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1996.
McHale, John P. Communicating for Change: Strategies of Social and Political Advocates. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.
Schubert, Klaus. “Akteur.” In Lexikon der Politikwissenschaft:Theorien, Methoden, Begriffe, vol. 2, edited by Dieter Nohlen and Rainer-Olaf Schultze, 8–9. Munich:Verlag, 2002.
Shepsle, Kenneth A., and Mark S. Bonchek. Analyzing Politics: Rationality, Behavior, and Institutions. New York:W.W. Norton, 1997.
Thiery, Peter. “Moderne politikwissenschaftliche Theorie.” In Politikwissenschaft: Eine Einführung, 5th ed., edited by Manfred Mols, Hans-Joachim Lauth, and Christiane Wagner, 209–247. Munich:Verlag, 1994.

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