# Statecraft > He distinguished “statecraft,” in which individuals have a diminished influence in political affairs because of the limits of representational government, from “politics,” in which citizens have direct, participatory control over their governments and communities. > > – [[The Next Revolution]] > While the state is the instrument by which an oppressive and exploitative class regulates and coercively controls the behavior of an exploited class by a ruling class, a government—or better still, a polity—is an ensemble of institutions designed to deal with the problems of consociational life in an orderly and hopefully fair manner. > > – [[The Communalist Project]]