Politics as a profession

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Politics as a Profession was the second lecture in a series of lectures entitled “Intellectual Work as a Profession” that Max Weber gave on January 28, 1919 to the “ Free Students Association . Landesverband Bayern ”in Munich's Steinicke bookstore - the first was science as a profession , which he held on November 7, 1917. The considerably expanded text of this lecture was published in July 1919. Politics as a profession has become a classic in political science .

content

In this essay Weber set up one of the central definitions of the state , in which the state “as a community which (with success) claims the monopoly of legitimate physical violence within a certain area ”. For the state to exist, the ruled people have to submit to the claimed authority. According to Weber, there are three reasons for legitimacy :

  1. By custom, for example a traditional rule, such as the patriarch exercises.
  2. Through charismatic rule , as exercised by the great demagogue and political party leaders and
  3. Rule through the legality of a statute.

Weber differentiates between professional politicians and part-time politicians (shop stewards and boards of directors of party political associations), who only exercise politics when necessary, but above all have no main income from it. The professionalization but also the constraints of professional politicians are the main topic of the lecture.

He contrasts the dilettante economy of hereditary politicians and passionate politicians who make politics for the cause with the professional civil service, which remains in place even if there is a change of power and concentrates purely on the pragmatic content of politics. He himself preferred the professional variant from a “purely technical-political point of view”.

According to Weber, the three most important qualities of a politician are:

  1. factual passion
  2. Sense of responsibility
  3. a distanced sense of proportion.

The greatest weakness for a politician, however, is vanity , which makes the politician appear irresponsible and irresponsible.

Weber also coined the terms ethics of responsibility and ethics of conviction . According to Weber, every good politician pursues higher goals, i.e. a certain ethic . In politics as a profession, Weber ultimately asks whether a politician should follow an ethics of responsibility (considering the consequences of action) or an ethics of conviction (doing what is morally right). Ultimately, the question cannot be answered clearly for him, since, according to Weber, politics is made with the head, but not just with the head. He concludes that ethics of conviction and responsibility are not opposites, but complements that together make the right politician.

terms and definitions

Casual politician

Weber describes the casual politician as all those who cast a ballot or otherwise express their political will, for example through a political speech or an act of influencing a political event.

Part-time politician

Part-time politicians are in turn those who only exercise their political activity when necessary and neither materially nor ideally “make their life out of it”. According to Weber, such persons can be board members of party political associations, but also members of city councils or parliamentarians who only actively engage in politics during one session.

Professional politician

Weber first derives the need for professional politicians from various premises. He describes the necessity of this type using the prince as the ruler of a community. Although he had classes that served him (which resembled the part-time politicians described above), these were far from acting politically and were only active when the Lord expressly requested it. Such helpers were not enough for the prince, however, and therefore full-time auxiliaries, i.e. habitual politicians, were necessary to carry out the daily tasks.

Weber divides the term professional politician into those who work for politics and those who live from politics. However, it should be noted here that the modern politician combines both of these in himself. By living for politics, Weber means someone who "makes his life out of it". Be it the bare possession of power or the service of a cause. Weber then says something that is very important: namely that someone can only live for one cause if he can also live from it.

On the one hand, he has to be very wealthy in order to be independent with the income that politics generates. On the other hand, however, he must also be economically available, which means that his income must not depend on the use of his labor. Such can therefore neither be the poor, workers, but also entrepreneurs, but only rentiers who receive an unemployed income. But this would result in a plutocratic recruitment of the political leadership.

However, since even the wealthy man cannot be independent by only orienting himself to the cause in the true sense of politics , but also having the protection of his economic security in mind, this cannot be a solution either. Democratization, however, makes opening up to other layers necessary, which is why work in politics must be rewarded. This can now be done through fees for official acts or through the fixed receipt of natural products or salaries. According to Weber, the new type of the democratic age is the “party official”; H. the employed full-time functionary.

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Politics as a Profession  - Quotes
Wikisource: Politics as a Profession  - Sources and full texts