To me, politics is
A worksheet for exploring various political concepts and, of course, for self-positioning.
Here is the PDF in DIN A 1 format (59.4 cm x 84.1 cm)
Didactic commentary
You should be able to say what politics is very quickly, shouldn't you? However, with the term "politics" it is like with many "big" terms (e.g. society, art, etc.): There is not ONE definition, but many. Ultimately, everyone has a different idea of what politics is or could be and at the same time, it is not irrelevant what we understand by politics and consider political. Especially for stakeholders working in the field of civic education, it makes a big difference which understanding of politics is taken as a basis. This is because it determines or limits the subjects that are considered relevant to education. That is why it is worth talking about it.
In order to stimulate such discussions, we have compiled many "clever" definitions of the term politics on this poster, which can serve as a stimulus to concretize one's own ideas or to position oneself. We also think it makes sense to attempt to classify them after an initial positioning: Which political concepts do we consider to be narrow, which broad? Many participants often find it difficult to categorize them. In this context, it has proved helpful to ask which definitions convey an understanding of politics that focuses on certain phenomena (such as specific institutions or decisions that are legally binding) and clearly distinguishes politics from everyday life.clearly separated from everyday life (narrow understanding of politics) or which emphasize that ultimately many aspects of everyday life (such as questions of belonging or private life) also have a political dimension (broad understanding of politics). It could also be asked which of the definitions are purely descriptive (i.e. descriptive) and which also contain normative (i.e. value-oriented) components.
What else do I need?
Depending on how you want to use this worksheet (more decorative as background information or the focus of a specific exercise), it may be useful to have participants write down how they would define the term politics for themselves in an unbiased way first and only then use or discuss the poster. We have also designed an open worksheet for this purpose, which you can find and use in the next section.