Politics – Advice and Reading
Ben Jasper, Debate Chamber Politics Tutor:
What with the current state of British politics epitomised by the expenses scandal you might worry that politics is inextricably linked with corruption, that no amount of attention or academic study will change it. For those of you who resist that impulse, who yearn to find out how such a system can emerge, or who want to learn how to change it for the better, politics is for you. These two impulses, one a very moral question about what kind of political community we ought to live in, the other one of how communities function, lie at the heart of what is crucial and stimulating about the study of politics. Hopefully the courses that Debate Chamber provides will give you an insight into both these areas, help you challenge assumptions and think critically about a subject that impacts all of our lives.
In particular the study of politics at university offers the chance to encounter a range of political theories you’ve only had cursory contact with before. What’s so fascinating is that for the first time you can gain an appreciation for the complexity and intellectual feat involved in some of the work, you can get to know the works of Marx, Hayek, Mill and Rousseau first hand from the texts. Crucially you are afforded the chance to be taught by experts in the field, some of whom may have advised or may currently advise senior politicians. University offers that opportunity to understand how policies are developed but also to understand some of the deeper intellectual justifications and undercurrents for some of the most momentous changes in history. If you are curious about political thought you might consider having a look at Rousseau’s ‘Origin of Inequality’, Marx and Engels ‘Communist Manifesto’ or Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’. These works are still hotly debated and their ideas can still be seen both in domestic and international politics.
More than this my real interest is in how political cultures, institutions and organisations work. In particular what fascinates me and drives me to study politics is a desire to study political phenomena in parts of the world that aren’t ‘developed’ or democratic. Politics at university offers the opportunity to study the politics of Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, regions which find poor coverage in our media, but whose politics are fascinating and important. Why are authoritarian regimes able to survive? Why do we continue to provide financial and diplomatic support to regimes that abuse their populations? Is there anything we can meaningfully do to foster democracy in the world or are our attempts liable to lead to the entrenchment of existing regimes? All of these questions seem to have developed a much more pressing significance in the public imagination recently, but only through a study of the actual regimes is it possible to come close to understanding the complexity of the situation.
RECOMMENDED READING
The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence. By Martin Meredith
The task of documenting the state of a continent for the past fifty years is a difficult one, but one that Meredith tackles excellently. Writing in a manner which combines history and politics and stories and anecdotes, Meredith portrays Africa as a Cold War battleground for the US and the USSR and documents well Africa’s decline in the 1980s and 1990s and shows how colonialism still affects Africa today.
Thatcher and Sons: A Revolution in Three Parts. By Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins explores the dramatic changes which have occurred in British Politics since the Margaret Thatcher came to power. Jenkins looks at how Thatcher changed both the nature of our country, but also how she changed the nature of democratic leadership. He spends time analysing Thatcher’s own time in power, and how her legacy affected the policies of Premiers Major, Blair and Brown, controversially calling Blair ‘Thatcher’s most devoted follower’.