Politics refers to the interrelated sets of activities involved in the governance of a country. Involving various levels of positions of organized governance, modern politics is fundamentally about making decisions that will apply to a state of people. Typically split into separate political parties that collectively support shared positions and policies, a country’s government must deal with a variety of critical human issues from making laws, building infrastructure, and conducting trade to providing education, protection, healthcare, housing, and navigating war. In democratic societies, the government is chosen through public elections meant to ultimately represent the will of the people.

Every day, everywhere in the world, things happen. Sometimes these things or good and sometimes they are bad. Sometimes we don’t know if they are good or bad. When people report on these things, it is called the news. The news that we hear about in newspapers or on television are often extraordinary things, or things that affect other people. Politics, the decisions that are made by those in power, sometimes creates situations that are reported on in the news, and sometimes things happen affect political decisions. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t.