What is
the scope of politics?
Lecture Notes prepared by Biju P R, Assistant Professor of Political Sciecne. Govt Brennen College. Thalassery.
Well you wanted to know the scope of politics! It’s just like
scaling up Mt. Everest. Why? It is because of the fact that politics is a
universal activity. So it is better to ask what in our social life doesn’t fall
under the realm of politics. There is almost none. No human activity infact
remains outside reach of politics. Hence the question is very difficult to
answer. However, here is a modest attempt to identify some area of our life
where politics has significance or put it otherwise, politics has scope.
Politics
studies ironies of our time.
Well you wonder what does it mean to say ironies of our time. See,
on 21 August 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda,
was stolen from the Louvre-The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the world's
largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. Vincenzo Peruggia, the
famous Italian thief was charged. The next day world media had given wide
coverage to the news. Next day onwards, there was unprecedented rush on
the Museum. Visitors infact arrived not to see the Mona Lisa, but the empty
space it created because of the fact that it was stolen.
Ironies are different. In Julius Caesar Shakespeare portrayed this
in a beautiful anecdote. Julius Caesar was a dictator of Rome who was
murdered by a group of conspiring senators. Caesar's friend Marcus Brutus was
part of the conspiracy. In the Shakespearean play, Caesar was stabbed once by
each of his attackers. He resisted at first, until his friend Brutus appeared
and stabbed him. Caesar’s final words is, "Et tu, Brute?" The
betrayal is all the more surprising to Caesar because of his friendship with
Brutus and Brutus' reputation for honor. The first line conveys Caesar's shock
and disappointment. The second line, Caesar's acceptance of death, is
sorrowful. He cannot bear to survive the pain of Brutus's betrayal.
Here comes the million dollar question of our social life.
Ironies! The messages of the stories are that human life is replete with
contradiction in which quite the opposite things occur to our surprise. Pain,
agonies, sufferings, contradictions, dilemmas; human beings are unable to
overcome the sudden surge of ironies of our time.
Look around. The United States which claims tobe a land of
continuous democracy and protector of liberalism and human rights dropped atom
bombs on innocent civilians on 6 and 9 August 1945. In the name of ideologies,
lakhs of people were brutally murdered which were more than the number
civilians killed during Worlds Wars. Most of the time our parliamentarians do
not participate in duscussions for which people elect them but spread
pandemonium in the house. These question or ironies of our times needs to be
answered. Look at politics. There are some answers.
Politics
studies conspiracies of our time.
The Banana massacre was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit
Company that occurred on December 6, 1928 in the town of Ciénaga near Santa
Marta, Colombia. After U.S. officials in Colombia, along with United Fruit
representatives, portrayed the worker's strike as "communist" with
"subversive tendency", in telegrams to the U.S. Secretary of State,
the United States government threatened to invade with the U.S. Marine Corps if
the Colombian government did not act to protect United Fruit’s interests. An
unknown number of workers died after the conservative government of Miguel
Méndez sent the Colombian army to end a union strike for better working
conditions. Gabriel García Márquez, renowened Colombian writer, depicted a
fictional version of the massacre in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude,
which portrayed how conspiracies bring unending sufferings to our life.
Our world is replete with conspiracies. Government conspires.
Citizen conspires. Groups, elites, authority, etc., conspires to protect their
interest. The world needs to uncover conspiracies. World needs to bring
conspirators under justice. Politics as a discipline studies all aspects of
conspiracies which bring in damages and sufferings to people.
Politics
studies violence of our time.
On 7 January 2015 at about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Saïd
and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical
weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with assault rifles and other
weapons, they killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The gunmen identified
themselves as belonging to the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda's branch in
Yemen, which took responsibility for the attack.
The reason according to terrorist groups was that the cartoon had
portrayed prophet in poor light. So it was blasphemy according to Islamic
belief system.
Violence occurs in different ways. Intellectual violence is also
as lethal as physical violence but former is least understood. Politics studies
violence in its different forms. And find solution to it.
Politics surveys alchemy and biography of the political life in
the country
India became independent in 1947. First general election in 1952.
Nehru became prime minister. 1962 China attacked India. Communists call it just
confrontation. 1964 Nehru died. From 1964 to 1966 Lal Behadur Shastri was the
prime minister. Indira became prime minister in 1966. Indira era prolonged upto
1978. Morarji Desai became prime minister in 1978. Mandal commission was
appointed. In 1980 Indira became prime minister and was shot dead in 1984 by
her own body guards. Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister of India and was
assassinated in 1989. Chandra Shekhar and V P Singh became subsequent prime
ministers of hung parliament. V P Singh implemented controversual Mandal
report. Rao as PM in 1991. Valpayee as PM in 1996. H D Devagowda and I K
Gujaral as PMs im 1996. In 1999 Vajpayee as PM from first non-congress party to
complete five year tenure. 2004 Manmohan Singh as PM and complete two tenures
in office upto 2014. Narendra Modi as PM of India.
What is said is the political biography of India. Any student of
politics will have minute details of the political processes of the country. So
study of politics is also conditioned by an understanding of political processe
of the nation.
Politics
produces intellectuals
2007 issue of Foreign Policy magazine had 100 best intellectuals
survey. Noam Chomsky topped the list. It had listed 17 political scuentists,
largest from a discipline in the survey carried. This discipline produce
thinkers, thought leaders, social critics, think tanks. They observe society
and give direction to the society. Politics as a discipline has immense scope
to that respect.
Politics
organizes research
According to Thomson Reuters report, political science is one of
the disciplines producing largest number of impact factor high quality research
journals in the world. It studies anything. From rocket science to pushpin,
anything falls under the research interest of politics. Family, nation, technology,
culture, environment, almost everything falls into its research scope.
Inshort, politics is everywhere. So its scope is
unlimited. Its research potential is beyond our power to quick understanding.
You can find best jobs in the world in this study area. It is passport to best
cities in the world, visa to best universities in the world and key to best
jobs in the world.
Activity
What you can do if you study Political Sciecne as an academic discipline for under graduation? Comment.
Lecture Notes prepared by Biju P R, Assistant Professor of Political Sciecne. Govt Brennen College. Thalassery.
