well, my definition is admittedly a little bit of an extrapolation from the greek root (city affairs), but it's common in writings about government and power. that's because you can't govern a group of people without the exertion of power (making people do things they may otherwise not do, like throwing trash on the ground as a benign example).

so you don't necessarily need a separate word or phrase for the observance of political parties and other governmental actors as they exert power--that's just "watching politics".