Summary Articles: Political Science in Today's World

By Hani Montan

"Summary Articles" is a comprehensive book not only for students of political science but for general readers to enjoy, too. Dive into the practical aspects of political science like socioeconomics, human relationships, history, and psychology. Discussing psychology is necessary for everyone to understand how politicians use politics as an art of mind control. Our world is reaching the state of dangerous polarization when the moderate silent majority cannot afford to stay silent anymore.

There are opportunistic politicians who are in it for themselves or for serving vested interests, but there are others who are in politics for the right reasons and who are committed to doing the right thing. Those are the real patriots who should be applauded and embraced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098311346

Book preview

© 2020 Hani Montan

Panania, NSW, Australia

Title: Summary Articles: Political Science in Today’s World, by Hani Montan

Edited and printed by BookBaby

North Route 130

7905 N Crescent Blvd, Pennsauken, NJ 08110

United States of America

ISBN(s): ISBN: 978-1-09831-133-9 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-09831-134-6 (eBook)

Subjects:

Politics, Socioeconomics, Psychology, Human Relationships, International Relations, Religion, and Terrorism. Includes bibliographical references

National Library of Australia ID: 8179180

Canberra ACT 2600

BISAC (category-Nonfiction): Political science—POL047000, POL011000, POL031000, POL032000, and POL037000.

BISAC (category-Nonfiction): Psychology—PSY000000, PSY023000, and PSY039000.

BISAC (category-Nonfiction): Religion—REL000000, and REL004000.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Politics and Socioeconomics

Chapter 2

Economic Systems and the Global Economy

Chapter 3

Psychology

Chapter 4

Human Relationships

Chapter 5

International Relations

Chapter 6

Religion and Terrorism

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Introduction

After writing several books dealing with many aspects of political science, in this book, the author Hani Montan is attempting to further simplify the subject for the general reader by focusing on its main components in an articles’ format. In the modern world, political science is not only about politics, political economy, social science, and international relations; it is also about, psychology, human relationships, history, philosophy, and the prevailing religious terrorism, which is escalating and threatening our lives and the future of the following generations.

In his last two books, Axis of Evil: Imperialism – Religion – Nationalism (2016,-updated in 2018), and Imperialism and Terrorism: Dissertation (2018)—the author has discussed some problems facing the world, including people’s apathy, especially the disengagement of the silent majority* from politics.

*The silent majority: For its relevance to the discussion in this book, the silent majority means people who work hard, have a dream and aspiration to have a reasonable job, to start a business, to buy a home, to start a family and secure their children’s future, as well as saving for a comfortable retirement. It also means people holding moderate opinions but rarely expressing them. As the world is heading toward a catastrophic future, the silent majority cannot afford to stay silent anymore.

It is understandable the disengagement from politics could have been caused by the disillusionment with politics and cynicism about self-serving political leaders who twist facts to fit their false narrative; but unfortunately, leaving the country’s destiny to them is counter-productive. It gives politicians a free reign for converting politics into the domain of the elite social class and makes politics dominated by wealth and influenced by vested interests rather than serving the majority and the national interests. As can be witnessed, the majority’s disengagement from politics is allowing politicians, with the help of the committed and well-funded lobby groups and some fringe media, to feed the public with misinformation, fact distortion, and corrupting democracy with money while sidelining the working majority.

In his book Psyche and Personality (2013), the author describes how charasmatic, sinister leaders can cause social disharmony and conflict when the silent moderate majority stays silent. And it is when genuine leaders cannot survive without enlightened followers, and sinister leaders cannot survive without blind followers. To distinguish a genuine leader from a sinister one is one of the aims of this book, and the first step is to understand politics and political systems that will help people use the ballot-box to advantage society without being fooled by rhetoric.

In Chapter 1, the focus is on politics and socioeconomics, especially on manipulation and understanding that many politicians are motivated by love for power or desire to serve their dogmatic ideologies or to represent powerful lobby groups. Today’s politicians, many of whom are elected on lies and deception, respond only to the vocal minority and ignore the rest. Many of today’s politicians are not committed to fairness, equality, and equal opportunity, which are essential elements for moving forward and building a prosperous and harmonious society.

The discussion is expanded in Chapter 2 to cover the subjects of key economic systems in the world and their impact on today’s national and global economies, especially in relation to globalization, free trade, and the prevailing protectionism and trade war. The reference here to globalization and free trade means to be part of a genuine commitment to the principles of coexistence without the exploitation of weaker nations to benefit the more powerful ones. Genuine globalization and free trade diminish the need for militarism and imperialism and reduce the impact of religious nationalism. It is simply because the three elements of imperialism, religion, and nationalism are the main causes of conflict in the world. And the way to reduce their combined impact is to consider them the axis of evil that is destroying the world and threatening the survival of humanity.

In Chapter 3, the subject of psychology, being a critical element of modern political science, is discussed to heighten political awareness. Discussing psychology is to help not only students of political science but also the general reader to understand how dishonest politicians use politics as an art of manipulation and mind control. They do this by targeting the gullible section of the community in the knowledge that only the gullible can be manipulated. Politicians are able to use their social intelligence to an advantage when their constituents lack self-awareness and social-awareness, as well as being politically disengaged. Chapter 3 deals with key aspects of psychology: intelligence, emotional intelligence (self-awareness), social intelligence (awareness of others), and some common personality disorders. Furthermore, when people are acquinted with the subject of psychology, they become concious about human relationships and international relations, which are the subjects of the discussion in Chapters 4 and 5, respectively.

Finally, when discussing terrorism in Chapter 6, it becomes obvious that some sinister political and religious leaders, for their own survival, create an army of blind followers and foot-soldiers to carry out their destructive goals. About the prevailing dangerous international environment, in this extended analytical chapter on the role of religion in terrorism, the author also explores the practical and the philosophical aspects of the clash of civilizations as he relies on his earlier research when writing his dissertation on the subjects of Imperialism and Terrorism (2018).

Readers will find all articles in this book are interrelated and informative, as in many other political science books. The author is attempting to offer some common-sense solutions to many problems facing the world. The future and human survival depend on adopting the principles of coexistence and moderation as guides for humanity going forward. Moderation can be achieved when the powerful dealing with the weaker embraces the give-and-take, win-win, and live-and-let live principles rather than the winner-takes-all approach. With the world now heading toward an escalating and catastrophic conflict, people are left with no option but to become politically aware and engaged and start caring about the future and the safety of the following generations. It should be remembered that the world is currently gripped with polarization, which is leading into dangerous conflicts within a country and globally.

Except for his academically presented dissertation on the subjects of imperialism and terrorism— which included detailed notes, citations, and an index—in the present book, readers will notice a different presentation compared with other nonfiction books that are written in a traditional way. His method dispenses with the tediousness of constantly interrupting the reader by having to flip back and forth to the notes, indexes, and appendices that are listed at the end of the book. For easier reading—especially for the general reader—in this book, all critical notes and definitions are provided immediately after the paragraph in which they appear, to give the reader immediate descriptions, meanings, and clarifications with minimum disruption to the smooth flow of thoughts.

Here it should be mentioned that in this book, in addition to the analyses of ethical, emperical, and prudential aspects of social and political sciences, the discussion extends to include their practical aspects. The practical aspects include politics and political systems, socioeconomics, globalization, free trade, psychology, human relationships, and international relations. In his analysis of the world’s current state of affairs, the author places some emphasis on the impact of the current clash of civilizations and terrorism that are driven by competing political, economical, and religious interests.

Throughout the book, readers will notice that other than social science and political economy, there are other sub-fields of political science, such as history and philosophy, that make learning and understanding the subjects a rewarding experience. It is about understanding the world in reality rather than in the way it is presented by the distorted perspective of propaganda of the powerful and the vested interests. It is also a summary of many other authors’ and academics’ knowledge of political, psychological, and international relations that is relative to the world we live in. It is a summary of their studies, experiences, observations, and conclusions; hoping that this will be useful to many readers.

Chapter 1

Politics and Socioeconomics

Politics is a discipline that relates to all citizens, which is the state control of the nation. It is aimed at influencing people individually, nationally, and globally. It is exercised on many levels: socially, local governments, state governments, federal governments, and internationally.

A political system relates to the methods of a government’s influence on people and the rules for administering the economic, legal, social, environmental, and religious affairs of a country, among others. A political system ensures the rational order of the society and produces norms and rules for this objective and for the governance of all relevant institutions. The essential element of governance is for the state to have power and control over the social order, the justice system, and the control of the economy including trade, as well as having the power over the country’s sovereignty. The political system is controlled by a political class, which is a group of politicians who are specialists and experts in specific fields of public administration.

Progressive and honest politicians are the ones who set the social rules of equality for all citizens and ensure that nobody is left out of the democratic process or disenfranchised. Unfortunately, in modern times, the power of the political class is directly related to the elite social class when politics is dominated by wealth, ideologically vocal lobby groups, and vested interests, while the larger national interest and the unity of people take second place. It can be observed that the national interest and national security are often used as a slogan for dubious porpuses, including sidelining democracy, secrecy, and opressing dissent. It can also be observed that in our Western politics, it is not if you’re right, but if you can manipulate people to have the numbers to be elected; and this is generally when the wrong becomes right and the democracy is corrupted.

A keen observer of American politics, for example, can readily come to the conclusion that interest groups often use their veto power to block any policy they oppose. They do this using their powerful organizations’ access to law-makers with well-funded lobbyists, coupled with their propaganda power to get puplic support by manipulation and sloganeering. Organizations such as AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), Wall Street, the oil complex, the Big Pharma, the military complex, the NRA (National Rifle Association), and so on are obviously have all these powers. Politics and elections in America and in some other Western countries are no longer run on traditional issues such as equality, health, education, social justice, and unity; instead, they are run on the manipulated national mood and division. In today’s politics, it is hard to find principles; instead, it is easy to find interests, especially the self-interest of politicians and their backers in their goal to preserve their power and dictate their uncompromising ideologies. The prevailing trend is self-preservation; western politicians, especially the Americans and the British, are resorting to divisiveness, nationalism, discrimination, racism, and bigotry, while ignoring the advantages of a united and harmonious society and the wisdom of the principle united we stand; divided we fall.

In this context, it can be observed that Western democracy, especially in the United States, is being hijacked and manipulated by white supremacists, extreme capitalists, and religious-right groups who own the system and control the majority of politicians. In a Western democracy, because of the influence of the ultra-rich, the far-rights, and the religious-right groups, it is becoming extremely difficult for independent politicians to get elected. Technocrats and moderate politicians cannot be elected without the sponsorship of vested interests and the media barons who constantly spin, distort, and mislead. They distort and mislead by targeting the less-informed voter with a barrage of propaganda campaigns and twisted logic, especially in the skilful diversion of people’s attention from real political and economic issues into racial, religious, nationalistic, right to bear arms, immigration, and other ideological sloganeering. In the process, democracy loses its meaning and citizens lose their faith in it. Democracy is doomed when money in politics stifles the necessary reforms, especially when wealth determines the degree of participation in the electoral process and when wealthy individuals, lobby groups, and corporations have unlimited and undeclared spending on elections. The mutually reinforcing nature of economic injustice and political inequality are highlighted by election campaign financing, in which money is the king and the kingmaker, which is the path for the death of a genuine democracy.

Elections in America are also described by Noam Chomsky as mainly bought.

About political campaign financing in America, in my book Israel vs. America vs. the World (2011), I wrote:

Political polarization is further aggravated by the Supreme Court’s ruling on political campaign finances, handed down in March 2010. The ruling allows corporations to act as individuals, which lets them donate anonymously to parties or candidates. It has the potential to encourage huge corporations to sponsor legislation directly or indirectly. It is a tragic decision for America that is based on freedom of speech and the First Amendment, but in this case it will entrench the influence of money on election results. It is the single biggest political decision by the Supreme Court that has huge implications on all future elections’ outcomes. It has the potential to further poison the political atmosphere by entrenching the role of money in elections that are driven by propaganda, distortion of facts, and the art of deception. This ruling will make a total mockery of American democracy. Corporations are now able to bankroll candidates, especially in paying for the advertising of candidates who are willing to sponsor legislation that is to their advantage. Payment for costly advertising is not considered a donation under the law; therefore it isn’t subject to disclosure….

It is unthinkable that freedom of speech can apply to a money machine that controls and owns the whole system. It must be a sad day for American democracy when right-wing organizations such as Fox News and Breitbart News are not only acting as the sloganeering mouth-piece of the Republican Party, but can also openly sponsor and promote far-right politicians and at the same time denigrate Democrats. The ruling on political campaign finances could be the outcome of stacking the ideologically driven Supreme Court with right-wing judges during the George W. Bush administration, which got worse during the Donald Trump administration.

Accordingly, American democracy has been corrupted by money, and officeholders have become beholden to the providers of money for their election. By just looking at America’s presidential elections, one can find that a politician who has a good idea but no money or cannot raise enough money, gets nowhere. Worse yet, if a politician wants to introduce wealth tax, he or she will be hounded out of politics. Other than that and generally, the current political process is sidelining the technocrats and lower social groups in favor of manipulative politicians with high socioeconomic status, which is a growing trend that is having a negative influence on American and Western democracies. The process of sidelining the technocrats and the representatives of the lower-class groups is causing the loss of will of these groups for political activism because their voices are drowned out by the wealthy and the religious right’s propaganda machine. Furthermore, and as can also be observed, often the voices of the majority of elected members of any political party have given way to a select few influencial members who control the political and the social agendas of their own parties, which makes governments increasingly subordinated to the well-connected and special interest groups, including the mega-wealthy, powerful business leaders, and vocal ideological and religious groups. Such an arrangement makes a mockery out of a genuine democracy and equates with corruption.

To understand many aspects of life and the reality of the world around us, especially the Western world—as a starting point—one should develop a basic knowledge and understanding of politics. Comprehending key aspects of politics and the political systems leads to understanding socioeconomics, psychology, human relationships, international relations, and the cause and effect of the current religious terrorism. These are the key subjects of modern political science with its built-in social science, political economy, history, and philosophy.

In its current form, politics have become the art of manipulation and the application of mass psychology that is aimed at the less-informed section of the community, where the main votes are won or lost. The world is becoming more fragmented and afflicted with conflicts and wars, the consequence of which is the unfortunate loss of optimism that is reflected in the loss of individuals’ spirit and the entrenchment of apathy. The world is changing for the worse, and people are in a state of disillusionment with politics and becoming more and more cynical about self-serving political leaders. This is especially so when people notice that most politicians project a different personality when speaking publicly by focusing only on emotional points and false promises, while spinning and pontificating, and at the same time gloss over the real issues that have a major impact on the country’s direction socially and in foreign policy. Politicians often gloss over the nation’s great insecurity about local and world economies, which is mainly caused by adopting extreme capitalism where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer—and many poor countries are getting poorer. In the United States, for example, the enormous advances in wealth and income at the top level are causing a fall in the living standard of the working and the middle classes. (Extreme capitalism is discussed in Chapter 2.)

Social and Political Classes

In the Western world, a social class is generally determined by wealth, income, education, and occupation. As an economic position, it can be asserted that occupation is the main driver behind class ideology. It can also be asserted that the driving force behind social and political classes is people’s belief in what the country can and should do for them, instead of what they can do for the country. Class division and inequality usually determine the social and political processes in a country.

As a general rule, society is divided into social classes. In a traditional Western democracy, a social class is represented by a political class, which means a social class is the power base of a particular political party that represents its economic interests. Social classes are also represented by organizations relative to their economic positions in society. Organizations representing businesses, for example, are different from the trade unions that represent the workers. Class division usually determines the voting pattern, which is based on policy preferences, except when class politics are affected by class mobility, electoral laws, election campaing financing, and conflicted constitutional intrepretaions.

In many Western democracies, the two-party system was mostly copied from the old British Empire’s structure, which still exists in the UK to date and in some of its old colonies, and is called the Westminster system of government. The system limits the emergence of nonpartisan, moderate, and more technocratic politicians that are orientated toward representing what is best about the nation, making sense of economic challenges, and serving the country rather than the vested interests and vocal ideological and religious groups. Instead, the two-party system of government is producing politicians—supported by influencial capitalists, powerful religious groups, and monopolistic media—that are more antidemocratic, dogmatic, constantly engaged in political spin, lack transparency, support the unfair distribution of wealth, and promote partisan politics and political polarization. (For more on political polarization, see sub-heading below.)

Over the years, the Labour Party in the UK represented the working class, and the conservative Liberal Party represented the capitalists and the middle class. The equivalents in America are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, respectively. (Conversely, the American Democratic Party is described as the liberal party and the Republican Party is described as the conservative party.)

For the convenience of the two parties, they have always complicated and manipulated the voting system and placed legislative hurdles to make it harder for a third party or more parties to emerge to challenge their dominance, especially when the middle class wasn’t large enough and while it was accommodated mostly within the conservative political wing. However, the intensive industrialization of the West after World War II has coincided with better education and the development of high-tech and service industries, which in turn have resulted in the continuous growth of the middle class and the intelligentsia. In developed countries, the middle class is growing larger than the other classes. The economic mobility between social classes usually causes ideological distortion and conflict of interests within a party if adjustment is not made for this mobility, as the status quo becomes unsustainable.

In the Western world, the gradual and sustained rise in the size of the middle class and the intelligentsia is not only causing an ideological distortion within their two main political parties (Republicans and Democrats in the US or Conservatives and Labours in the UK) but also creating a huge gap in the direct political representation of these ever-growing social and economic groups. This ideological distortion and the gap in the political representation could continue until a third party is formed that is linked and devoted to represent the nation’s middle class and the intelligetsia. The formation of a middle-class party would go a long way toward solving the current state of political disengagement among the middle class, as well as overcoming the problem of polarization in a two-party system. It can prompt active participation of this large social group in a party that will directly represent its political and economic interests and aspirations, rather than forcing it to rely on the left’s or the right’s political manipulation. As it stands, in the absence of a third moderate party to represent it, the middle class is employed in a factional way to serve the interests of the left or the right.

In the meantime, people who are hoping the system will miraculously improve should understand that hope is good, but in politics it is pointless to wait for a miracle without taking action. This is more so in America where politics has degenerated from being having a conversation between opponents into opponents becoming the evil enemy that must be eleminated. It is the partisan politics that stifled America into polarization, which cannot be cured without the activism of the middle class and the intelligensia. No American will benefit from the country’s decline becoming terminal, and no hope will solve America’s problems. And nothing will make America great again while it is terminally divided and declining. The sign of its decline becoming terminal is when members of Congress are contradicting the Constitution by no longer abiding by the principle and the oath of their election, which is once elected, congressmen are to serve their country and not their own political parties and should always hold their integrity above partisanship. Currently, congressmen make decisions on serious matters not based on principles but on whether it will help them get re-elected