I'm sure that is the most common use of the art of politics, I'd suspect that it is used in far more mundane ways much more often.

When asking dad for a raise in allowance you don't choose right after he has come home in a drunken rage, eh?

Rule by force adopts politics as a means to diminish the exposure of the iron fist in the velvet glove.
In the days of the kings we wouldn't be allowed to express ourselves as we do as the penalty was likely death.

An anarchistic society still has hierarchies, they just can't control others through anything but better ideas.
Anybody seeking what could be termed power would be suspect and closely watched for rbf tendencies.