I think revisiting definitions on occasion is worthwhile: Much of the  
discussion so far has centered on a very particular conceptualization  
of the term "politics" - I would describe it as 'professional  
politics', which would include electioneering, public policy, and  
other formal elements of government.  However, there is also the  
conceptualization of politics as constituting a major part of  
interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, or perhaps even things  
like 'corporate culture'.  One might even be able to successfully  
argue that these 'personal politics' are perhaps more a part of the  
day-to-day reality of being human than are 'professional politics',  
but both are certainly of equal importance for explaining design and  
politics (politics and design, etc.).

So how can both of these forms of politics be accounted for in a  
discussion of design and politics?  One possible starting point could  
be the fact that communication is essential in both, and thus the  
design of communications, or the affecting of communications through  
design, is political (i.e. a part of being human) - this opens up the  
possibility of seeing politics in the everyday, or supposedly  
apolitical.  Ultimately, however, I think that analyzing how power  
functions in both of these forms of the political is essential.   
Though power may operate in different ways across professional/group  
politics, or even in different ways across time (from old frameworks  
to new frameworks) power is still functioning as an integral part of  
human relations and group dynamics.  I would argue that much of the  
evolution of frameworks (both GK VanPatter's but also any other effort  
to understand how things work, or how to do things better) is also an  
evolving of how to deal with or distribute power and its effects.   
This in turn begs the analysis of historical and political-economic  
context, motives, and so on.

I hope that this kind of analysis also presents a legitimate  
"opportunity to move beyond very narrow ... notions of design"

Sincerely,
Juris Milestone, Ph.D.

Critical Writing Program, and
Penn Institute for Urban Research
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA, USA