In public health practice, policies can mean one of two things. What we describe as politics with a big P which relates to political parties and the philosophy of government. It's driven by politicians. They've typically elected individuals who make the big decisions. But we also talk of politics with our little p, as being processive as gaining or applying power, in our local group or organization. Let's look at politics with a big P, the philosophy of governing. I'm going to tell you about political theory. Why do we have government? Well, it's about security and its most basic form. A government is meant to protect its citizens from external threats. But historically it's also been that to promote unity and famous, whether through Confucius or Plato, east or west. Well, both Confucius and Plato from the sixth fifth centuries BC respectively, have quasi-religious overtones to their teaching. It wasn't until later that more structured approaches to religion ethics and politics came together through the work of philosophers, such as Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas describe different types of law starting with those made by God, all the way down to those created by man. I think it's fair to say that most philosophers and political scientists argue that good government is about creating a better society. One that's more fair and more just. They may have differing reasons for this, whether it's because they believe in recreating God's kingdom on earth or because they believe that God doesn't exist, and it's inherently just the right thing to do. But in most western democracies, even now most people would accept that government is necessary. Politics with a big P is the activity of government. As we've seen over recent years, quite how to govern has become an increasingly polarized subject. You'll already be aware if the idea of left and right wing ideologist. Now the language of political theory is today quite loaded. Therefore, even the word liberal can be highly disputed. Liberals, classical liberals and neoliberals being just one example. But put simply, the left is more traditionally associated with challenging the status quo, and the right is traditionally more loyal to custom. The current situation has the labels of liberal and conservative. But I want to add a second axis. This axis suggests how much you think the state should intervene. If you're John Stuart Mill or Thomas Paine, then you'd feel the state should never interfere in individual autonomy and then someone else is coming to harm. You're probably very comfortable with free markets and capitalism. You believe that people make their own choices for good or for ill. The other end of this axis is collectivist. If you're at this end of the axis, then you're probably very committed to a more egalitarian state by people that yield equal opportunities and where wealth is redistributed partially by progressive taxation or wholly by state action on salaries or company profits. You may be influenced by the writings of Marx or the actions of Lenin. Alternatively, you may feel that the state is a powerful role in shaping social norms and abiding by tradition. It's possible to hold very conservative views and belief in an authoritarian state. But in life of this circumstances, you may feel more comfortable with the idea of what we term paternalistic policies, which are sometimes referred to by more libertarian voices in the UK as the "Nanny state", or in the United States as "Big government". But of course, most of us fall somewhere between these polar opposites. Somewhere in the middle of this diagram. Left and right are useful for us to understand the context of working with politicians. In most western democracies, they'll come from one end of the political spectrum over another with a manifesto or agenda that they wish to pursue. But I feel it's the libertarian collectivist axis that's actually more relevant to Public Health Practice A for rule. The degree to which we feel that government should be able to shape, their framing it positively or interfere with, a framing negatively. Our lives is a huge question for us as a professional. Now, it's fair to say that most public health professionals are more left-wing in the general population and their more collectivists than most. But it's so important that we're able to have a debate. I can certainly say that I've had a healthy number of debates with colleagues over the years based on my own political beliefs. It's probably fair to say that on the whole, the more collectivist and more left wing political administrations have historically been more friendly towards public health and our work. The rise of center right administrations over the last decade have intern presented opportunities for large based theories of behavior change, based on the idea of libertarian paternalism. But we'll look at that in a later course.