Dr John Mohan Razu
Politics derives its root and essence from polis meaning ‘governance’. Originally it means in Greek city-state characterized by a sense of community. It simply means ‘governance’—be it a city-state, nation, or an organization or a household. When we broaden its scope and expands, then its horizon widens to macro-level of governance—a country. From conceptual to real the term ‘governance’ gains its workable or functional mechanics. There are diverse types/systems or ways of governance that runs through political theories.
‘Governance’ is not an abstract term but concrete. And so, how, who, when, what, and why are to be answered when it comes to practical details. There are different types of governance, but a common cord that unifies governance is power. Power and authority are extended to those liable to govern is given by people. But “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men,” the historian and moralist, who was otherwise known as Action, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandel Creighton in 1887.”
What is happening across us namely in Bangladesh, Venezuela, India, Myanmar, Russia, North Korea, China, Pakistan, Israel, and in many countries the quintessence of what Action observed more than a century ago. Autocrats, despots, totalitarianisms, and dictators are always power mongers and are enjoined by corruption of immorality and totally irrational in their thinking and practices. There is total bankruptcy in their ethical thinking and moral behavior. Though these characteristics are visible and reflective in other domains such as institutionalized religions, educational and theological institutions, churches and other religious organizations, businesses, corporate houses, judiciary and many others in political domains abuse of power and authority are visible, conspicuous and tangible. If polis is governance, then it should be for the public.
We tend to conveniently keep aside those in other domains abusing their power and authority and highlight the abuses happening only in the arena of politics and how power is abused in each and every phase. For power to manifest in concrete ways it has to have two parties 1) the one unleashes his/her power and authority, and 2) the against the one it is being exercised—simply means the one who wields power and the one at the receiving end. Human nature per se is to acquire power. Power denotes status, prestige, money, entitlements, authority—exercise of control, popularity, and host of others. Political power adds authority and if it is not moderated it would lead to absolute power often go hand-in-hand. People in general ascribe power to politics which is why we call it ‘politics is for scoundrels’, which is not true.
Powers is active and is present everywhere—within familial, ecclesial, societal, political, cultural, economic and religious spheres and thus operates in big and small ways. But politics is present everywhere and in all realms and so it is visible and sometimes gets murkier as well. Plato’s political philosophy argues that in a system in which everyone has a right to rule, but if go deep down we find binaries operating ruler and the ruled, owner and the slave, owners who own the means of production and laborers who sell their labor for wages, and host of others. To attain power politicians and those in the rungs of power equations use all kinds of rhetoric to get into power. After having secured power they use the same power given to them in abusive ways.
Power has magical psychedelics. It swings in volatile ways. To protect and augment power those in power and authority and enjoyed power could go to any extent. Political power per se is highly seductive and manipulative. Politicians whether in micro or macro in power and authority could suffer from Fiefdom Syndrome meaning tendency toward an “inflated self-assessment” is one of three key personality traits people have that cause them to build up fiefdom. Apparently, people who create fiefdoms can become dangerously insular, losing perspective on what is happening in the world outside their own control. It could sometimes develop or lead to superiority complex in which they get overwhelmed and cannot part with.
Absolute power being enjoyed by those players is so addictive which pushes them to perpetuate and advance despite knowing that one day they should give away or part with or taken away. Power and politics are intrinsically intertwined and hard to be separated. At the same time those caught up with politics who in power and authority knows that whatever emits from is temporal power equations, not permanent and yet caught in the power dynamic. Power mesmerizes and thus immerses by taking those in political authority to instant popularity and grandeurs.
In such unbridled power equations and dynamics many tends to get swayed to the lures by failing to moderate power and become victims of it. For those what former British Prime Minister Herbert Henry (HH) Asquith said would be apt that “totality of anything could be dangerous. Though there’s no denying that there have been morally upright politicians in all countries and ages who stuck to exalted human values, they have been few and far between.” Increasingly people come out challenging the corrupt and dubious politicians and their regimes. When politicians lose honesty, accountability, morality and ethicality in governance, then they are bound to face the natural outcome. History teaches us lots of lesson the end of autocratic and authoritarian leaders. A classic example is former PM Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh who has been forced to flee the country and managed to get ‘temporary asylum’ in India.
In recent times, political uprising, revolts, and revolution somehow gets mixed with religious frenzy because politics gels with religion and beautifully mixed with each other. Religious fundamentalism is insulated in politics to achieve their ends. Increasingly we have been witnessing liquidations of rationalists, atheists, public intellectuals, journalists, progressive writers and activists across South Asia and in other countries. Gradually political parties are moving away from earlier conviction of not mixing religion with politics. We see naked mix between politics and religion especially right and far-right political parties.
Ethics is thus the undergirding facet for polis—governance. Without an ethical system it is difficult to talk about governance. For example, ‘Common Good’, ‘Common Humanity’, ‘Maximum Happiness of Maximum Number of People’, ‘Common Future’, ‘Common Humanity’, ‘Less Pain and More Pleasure’, ‘Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation’ (JPIC), ‘People Before Profit’, ‘Ethical Investment’, ‘Greatest Number for the Greatest Number of people’ and many such credos. Polis/politics or governance and ethics may appear to be poles apart, but they are intertwined into a scrupulous unit for the survival of democracy.