Sophia Issue AY 2014–2015

the official publication of the

Association of Political Science Organizations of the Philippines

the official publication of the

Association of Political Science Organizations of the Philippines

editorial board Herby Jireh M. Esmeralda Rocel A. Cruz Christine Joy L. Galunan Ann Claryn B. Yap Edcel John A. Ibarra Marie Athena C. YbaĂąez

message from the ACADEMICS DIRECTOR Dear

reaDer,

You are reading the new Sophia, the official publication of the Association of Political Science Organizations of the Philippines. It used to be a newletter that broadcasts news on the affairs of the association. But our trade is political science, not journalism. The new Sophia instead primarily publishes political analytic compositions. It aims to serve as a platform for members to express their views on all things political and, thereby, discursively practice their vocation as students of politics.

For the publication’s first issue under this new form, the editors find it but fitting to reflect on our discipline. They decided to write on the relevance of political science as a field of study. Are we not in vain in studying politics?

The present contributions tell us that political science fortunately remains relevant not only to society in general but also to many others spheres of activity, but its relevance thrives not without some challenges. I hope that the contributions will make you proud of our trade and motivate you to take action to affirm its relevance to the community.

I am proud to see Sophia again after some time of idleness, and even prouder to see it as truly a political science publication. I hope you share the same excitement I and the board have for it!

BREATHING POLITICS,

MATTHEW KELBY UY

UP Political Society Director-Organization for Academics

2014 2015

in this issue NEWS

freedom of assembly : apsop convenes congress on human rights

3 5

apsop meets to discuss isis

apsop embraces new charter

6 7

breaking chains : apsop runs forum on human trafficking

F E AT U R E S Oda para sa Dalubbanwahan 9 Marqz Verone Olivar praises in a poem how political science derives its relevance in the formulation and delivery of concrete solutions to social problems with its broad scope and critical perspective.

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Bakit May Agham Pampolitika sa Buhay Ko? 12 Ann Claryn B. Yap examines the practical relevance of political science. She interviews graduates and asks them how they were able to apply their political scientific training to their various careers, from teaching, law, and journalism to seeminglyunrelated fields as film.

Adrian Carlo Manlangit reflects also in a poem how political science is necessary to instill to the individual consciousness of the political realities that surround him or her.

Marie Athena C. Ybañez sees the relevance of political science in developing its students’ well-being in romantic relationships. She invites the reader to date a political science major for his or her sensitivity to power, conflict, and consensus – a quality that could potentially provide stability to romantic relationships.

19 The Roads We Travel

Reflections on the Relevance 21 of Political Science Christine Joy L. Galunan considers how political science faces a crisis of relevance based on its deteriorating quality of knowledge output compared to the other social sciences. She argues that insistence on proper variables and methodology erodes the development of more sophisticated theories of politics.

Ang Agham ng Politika

Where do PolSci Majors 13 Go Nga Ba?

Date a Political Science Major 16 Rocel A. Cruz tells in a short story that political science is always relevant to both the ruler and the ruled; the more important question is to whom a student would lend his or her political scientific expertise. This is a tale of two political science graduates, one siding with the elites and the other with the masses, and their ensuing interaction.

Herby Jireh an to odepolitical to political science Herby JirehM. E.Esmeralda Cruz opensopens with with an ode science in in its capacitytotosee seethe thegeneral generalpicture pictureof of political political reality its capacity reality and and offer solutions to the betterment society – an immense offer solutions to the betterment of of society – an immense intellectual undertakingthe theauthor author is willing to take intellectual undertaking is willing to take partpart in. in.

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Edcel John A. Ibarra reflects on how political science seems to have failed to be relevant to the layperson. He sees a discrepancy between how political scientists have come to extraordinarily understand politics versus how non-political scientists already ordinarily understand the concept.

Political Science: The New Residual Social Science?

freedom of assembly APSOP CONVENES HUMAN RIGHTS CONGRESS b yJ I Rj E ir c RrAuLzD A HhE eR r BY H eMh. EeS.M E

Political science majors from all over the country embarked upon the domain of human rights as they analyzed the interchanging talks and engaged in discussions among their peers in this year’s APSOP Congress entitled, “Human Rights in Southeast Asia: Status and Prospects,” held on March 21 at Palma Hall, University of the Philippines Diliman.

A diverse set of speakers imparted their knowledge in relation to the human rights situation in Southeast Asia. Prof. Dennis Quilala of the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman tackled conceptual issues surrounding human rights.

Atty.

Marc Cebreros of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) discussed the practice of human rights in the ten Asean member-states.

Lastly, Atty. Josel Mostajo of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) considered what the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has hitherto done and what it could do in the long run in terms of protecting human rights. An open forum subsequently followed.

With the understanding that garnered in the talks, participants formed into groups for work-

-shops on media freedom, armed conflict, labor rights, gender, and equality.

Each group worked to come up with comprehensive plan to achieve certain human rights goals with respect to their groups’ themes.

“This year’s Congress is very timely in light of the ASEAN integration.

We hope that APSOP would be able to hold the Congress every year from now on.” shared Ms. Ann Claryn Yap, the Association’s secretary-general, when she initiated the commencement of APSOP Congress 2015.

Through the years, the APSOP Congress aims to generate a channel of communication through dialogue and cooperation among political science student organizations. This year, the Congress was spearheaded by UP Political Society (UP POLSCi) as the director-organization of the Academic Committee.

“I challenge everyone to go beyond this Congress and bring the very crucial discourse of human rights in Southeast Asia to your respective organizations and universities.“ dared by Allan Cairo Reyes, president of UP POLSCi, in his closing remarks.

4

APSOP EMBRACES NEW CHARTER Springing from a consensus among the 14 member-organizations, APSOP approved a new charter during the Charter Convention held last August 30 at Colegio San Juan De Letran.

The new charter introduces the institutionalization of an Electoral Board as a separate body from the Judicial Council; the latter still remains but it will be detached from the General Assembly.

Another significant provision was the prohibition of heads of organizations to run for the secretariat positions.

The charter deliberations were participated by memberorganizations who were divided

5

rocel a. cruz

into committees headed by the five director-organizations.

Reports from each committee were then consolidated by the Central Charter Committee.

Finally, the consolidated charter was presented to the General Assembly in the Charter Convention for final revisions and approval.

The deliberations formed a series that started July 20 at Brgy. Parang, Marikina City, led by SecretaryGeneral Ann Claryn Yap along with Deputy Secretary-General Reiner Gallardo and the directororganizations.

edcel john a . ibarra

APSOP MEETS TO DISCUSS ISIS

APSOP members gathered together at the University of the Philippines Diliman for an educational discussion (ED) on the position of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the terrorism of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

this was just a part in the process of brewing a firm, clear, and fair stand,” shared Justin Sabandeja, head representative of AdU Pulitika from Adamson University, the facilitator of the ED as the directororganization of the Socio-Political Committee.

Participating member-organizations shared their views on what ASEAN has done so far in response to a revival of Islamic extremism in the region as triggered by the apparent success of ISIS in the Middle East.

Toward the end, the group eventually reached consensus and agreed on a stand.

“The ED was exciting. The different perceptions of the memberorganizations were revealed, and it was evident that the Association is not leaning on just a single political paradigm,” Sabandeja added.

The stand states, “APSOP is in accord to support the military passivity of Asean, but reminds member-states of their duty to protect the people of their respective countries and of the region as a whole. We also emphasize our plea for a vigilant and unified Asean in dealing with this alarming matter.”

“At first, I was pessimistic that we can agree on one stand because opinions during the ED were colliding, but it came to me that

6

To break the chains and call action against human trafficking, AdU Pulitika from Adamson University and the rest of the Sociopolitical Committee of APSOP organized “What If It Was Me”, a forum on human trafficking held on February 27 at De La Salle University Manila.

Atty. Lisa Guevara-Garcia and Atty. Apple Garcia of the Manila Field Office of the International Justice Mission headed the threepart forum.

The first talk introduced human trafficking reality in global and Philippine context. This included the push factors of human trafficking and the basic strategic plans of prevention and protection have been placed into actions.

It was followed by a detailed introduction to the AntiTrafficking in Persons Act (RA 9208 as amended by RA 10364).

7

It comprised of the important technicalities of the law such as the acts, means and purposes and relevant jurisprudence pertaining to it.

The process of profiling a victim of trafficking was also discussed as well as the statistics on how many victims were rescued especially on commercial sex trafficking prevalent in the country. The aftercare case management flow of the victims’ road from rescue operation to recovery to reintegration was also presented.

The talks were participated by 65 delegates from APSOP-affiliated organizations who, at the end, were informed about human trafficking, the legal remedies, and ways on how to console the victims and reintegrate them into society.

The said forum was sponsored by FAST 2011, the batch 2011 student government of DLSU.

BREAKING CHAINS APSOP RUNS FORUM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING marie

athena

c

.

yba単ez

8

H E S. McE r RA h EeRrBbY y J I jRiErHe M h. e u LzD A

oda para sa dalubbanwahan Ninais kong matuklasan ang mga nakatagong yaman sa sandaigdigan.

Natatangi pa roon, ang mga dakilang pangyayaring kikintal sa aking pagpanaw.

Mulat ang mga mata sa kahihinatnan ng sangkatauhan.

Sinusubukang tikman ang panlasa ng iba.

Dinidinig ang mga bulong ng boses nilang nakakulong.

Tinutuklas ang baho’t halimuyak ng umaalingasaw nilang puso’t utak.

Binubuklat ang mga pahina ng nakaraan, kasalukuyan, at hinaharap ng santinakpan.

Sa kabila nito, kapuna-puna ang karagdagan sa bilang ng mga mapanlinlang at nagpapalinlang na mga nilalang.

Ang malamlam na punto ay nasusukluban ng isang palahaw mula sa bungangang babad at sumisingaw.

Sa pagdami ng mga nakalilitong panunuya, nalimot na ng madla ang tamang gawa.

Ikaw ang naging lampara upang pariktan ang daang sinusundan.

9

Natuto akong manuri nang may pagninilay-nilay sa dalawang panig ng balangkas at walang pagkiling sa iisa lamang.

Natalakay mo ang mga usaping may paghahambing, walang pambabalimbing.

Nabatid kong kailangang magmasid nang mataimtim at mas malalim – maging kritikal, hindi masukal.

Sa tuwina’y tayo’y nagsasalo sa kaalaman, isang tanong ang bumabagabag sa aking isipang dali-dali mong pinapatanto – ano kaya ang isang mukha ng kuwento?

Simula noong namulat ako sa kagandahan at karumaldumal na itsura ng buhay ng mga tao sa lipunan, hindi na natanggal sa isip ko sa araw-araw itong katanungan.

Ako’y hamak na talubatang nanghihingi ng kasagutan.

Kalugud-lugod nang lumangoy sa kaluwagan ng kaalaman sa karagatan at kalawakan.

Malaya tayong makapag-iisip.

Ikaw ang parolang gumagabay, kailanma’y hindi magmamaliw ang iyong ilaw.

Ikaw ang patnubay, ang may kakayahang baguhin ang iba’t ibang pananaw at patayin ang sigaw ng katahimikan.

Ang aking isipang hamog ay nabigyan ng kalinawan sa paglalahad mo ng kaalaman at katotohanan.

Ikaw ang buhay, kasabay ng iyong pagkawala ay ang pagsisimula ng bagong alaala.

Lalaya ang mga ikinadena mong alagad ng karimlan.

Ngunit sa huli, magagawa mo pa ring pagtagpi-tagpiin ang gula-gulanit nilang selda.

Sa iyo, dalubbanwahan sakit ay asahan, pagkirot ay mararanasan.

Sa kabilang banda, kapalit naman nito’y kaginhawaan.

Hindi ko rin lubos na akalaing naglamat ang iniwang sugat.

Para bang dilim ay kumagat at ang araw ay nag-ulat na ang naunang kaalaman ko’y hindi sapat.

Ngayong papatapos na itong sulat, nararapat lamang na magpasalamat dahil ako ay namulat.

Tinulungan mo akong tanungin kung ang daan nga ba ay talagang tuwirang binabaybay o sadyang tayo’y naglalakad na parang pilay.

Hindi gumagamit ng saklay, walang umaalalay.

Sa dilim ay nangangapa kaya malimit ang pagbangon, laging nakadapa.

Matagal na tayong tinitira nang patalikod at nakaluhod.

Sinasabi sa aking sarili na may iba’t ibang paraan

upang kinang mo ay masilayan.

Ikaw ay hindi lamang isang salita sa talahuluganan o sabihin nating isang islang naghihintay upang masakop at matuklasan.

Sa halip, ikaw ay isang sangandaan.

Hindi dahil sa maraming nawawala’t naliligaw sa pagitan ng iyong mga sanga, ito ay kundi dahil marami kaming pagpipilian – pagpipiliang ruta sa kabila ng iyong topograpiya.

Magaspang man o makinis, maputik man o malinis, baliko man o tuwid, dagat man o himpapawid, patuloy pa rin namin itong tatahakin.

Kalimitang nadadawit ang mga aral mo sa kaanyuan at kaparaanan ng pamahalaan.

Kung ito naman ay pagsusumahin sa kabuuan, nauukol din dito ang kapangyarihan ng ibang sistemang umiikot sa iyong kaibuturan Nariyan ang mga ibang disiplinang sa iyo’y may kaugnayan.

Sa kabila ng mga pasikot-sikot at kaibhan ng iyong mga daan, tutungo pa rin ito sa ugnayan ng pinagsalikupan.

Ito ay hindi sukatan ng kung ano ang aming napagpasyahan, bagkus ito’y nauukol sa kung bakit namin ito hinirang.

Ang lahat ay sumusulong at kumukupas.

Dahil sa iyong mga salaysay ay may pag-uulit at lahat ng hindi natapos ay hindi pa naiwawaksi.

Hindi pa itim ang puting krayola.

Malayo man ang umagang nagsisilbing ilaw sa mundo’y umaaninag, hindi pa naaagaw ng dilim ang liwanag.

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ang agham ng politika marqz

verone

olivar

Hindi nakukulong sa kulay at nilalatag na prinsipyo Hindi ukol sa iringan ng mga naghahangad na pulitiko Hindi lamang sa institusyon at tradisyonal Ang Agham ng Pulitika ay malawak, kritikal.

Para ikahon ang siyensiyang ito sa dumi at sirkus ng pamumulitika ay delusyon, pagkukulang Ito ay taon ng saliksik sa gobyerno’t lipunan Sa makinarya’t pilosopiyang saligan nito Ang Agham ng Politika ay nagbabahagi ng solusyong konkreto.

Ito ay patuloy na naghahanap, nananaliksik Nag-iiwang-linaw sa galaw at pintig ng lipunan ‘Pagka’t ang pulitika’y hindi lang pulitiko’t batas Kundi maging sa mundo nito sa loob at labas Ang Agham ng Pulitiko ay hindi lang modelo kundi prinsipyong likas Ito ay gising at buhay Prosesong pinanday ng kritikal na mga utak Ng propesyonal, guro, at karaniwang mamamayan Kumakawala sa kontekstong madumi at negatibo Ang Agham ng Politika ay patuloy na sasagot sa tanong ng lipunan Ang Agham ng Politika ay sabay sa nagbabagong panahon

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Sa pagsuong sa paikot-ikot na indayog ng buhay, Isang bagay ‘di lubusang matantong tunay.

Sa ugnayan at sa paghugos ng bawat desisyon, Sa lipunan at sa pagkilos ng bawat nasyon, Bakit buhay ang siyensiya ng politika?

Ano’ng saysay ng kaniyang dinadala?

Bakit may agham pampolitika sa buhay ko?

Isang bagay na kailangang matanto.

Marahil nariyan nang ugnaya’y dumalisay Nang tao sa kapwa’y mangyaring matiwasay.

Agham na susuungin, walang sawang iintindihin Leksiyon ng interaksiyon, kompetisyon, at mithiin, At bakit kapangyariha’y ninanais natin.

O ‘di kaya’y para saksihan at magiliw na pag-isipan Kahanga-hangang pagdedesisyon ng kontrapelong opinyon?

Nang malaman ng isipang sa lipuna’y kailangan Iisang pagkilos, susi’y kooperasyon.

Ano’ng magagawa ng agham politikal?

Bubuksan ang isipan sa lipunang masukal.

Samo’t saring ideolohiya, Sanga-sangang paniniwala Sa pagtahak sa buha’y huhubugin ang malay Sa malawak nitong lente, tayo’y ‘di salat Sa dunong ukol sa estado, sa kilos nito’t lahat.

Wala nang mas iinam pa sa alay niyang handog – Kakayahang makaalam, makiisa, nang estado’y mapainog.

Bakit may agham pampolitika sa buhay ko?

Oo, marami ngang dahilan, maraming rason.

Ngunit nangingibabaw sa aki’y iisa ngayon, Ito’y huhubog sa buong katauhan ko, Sa aking malay, paninindigan, maging sa prinsipyo.

Hindi mahihiyang sabihin, “Pol Sci ang susi ng mundo”.

adrian

carlo

manlangit

bakit may agham pampolitika sa buhay ko?

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Where Do PolSci Majors Go Nga Ba? ann

claryn

Itanong sa Isang Pol Sci Gradweyt: Ano’ng ginawa mo pagkagradweyt? Bakit ito ang pinasok mong hanapbuhay? Matapos magsunog ng kilay nang mahigit apat na taon sa pag-aaral ng Dalubbanwahan, saan nga ba patungo ang isang Pol Sci major?

Sagutin kasama ang iyong pangalan o codename, at ang taon kung kailan ka gumradweyt.

JD-in-the-Making ‘05: Nung gumradweyt ako ng hayskul, sigurado na ako na gusto kong mag-Pol Sci – the perfect pre-law course! ‘Yon naman talaga ang dahilan ng karamihan ng mga kumukuha ng Pol Sci, ‘di ba, para maging abogado? Pero noong makapasok ako, sabi ng seniors ko, hindi raw magandang pre-law course ang Pol Sci. “It does not dwell in the technicalities of the law. It is very different from what you will experience in law school.” Ginusto ko nang mag-shift sa Accountancy, pero hindi pumabor ang grade ko sa Math. Hassle!

Tinuloy ko pa rin ang Pol Sci at nag-law ako pagkagradweyt. Pumasa naman ako ng LAE. Yes! Mga accountant, psychologist, at English major ang mga klasmeyt ko – sila raw ang may perfect pre-law course. Pero nagawa kong makipagsabayan sa kanila dahil isa akong Pol Sci. Sisiw na lang ang magbasa ng 30 cases sa isang gabi.

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b

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yap

It was an advantage to have prior knowledge about the structure of the government, as well as a background on public and private international law. Hindi naman pala disadvantage ang pagiging Pol Sci, e! Sa katunayan, mas nauunawaan ko ang tunggalian ng mga partido sa bawat kaso.

There is always a struggle for power; and the people, in their every action, are obliged to follow the law.

At the end of the day, I became a more informed lawyer who is able to deeply understand cases by considering the struggles behind them. Hindi lamang ako naging isang abogado, kundi naging isang taong may pagpapahalaga sa tunggalian ng mga tao sa ating lipunan.

Sir Pol Field ‘12: Sabi ni Mommy, bakit daw ako magtititser? Hindi naman daw ako yayaman sa pagtuturo. Sayang lang daw ang pagpapaaral niya sa akin ng Pol Sci kung magtuturo lang ako sa isang State U – at sa probinsiya pa namin! Pero tama naman si Mommy, e. Hindi naman talaga kalakihan ang sahod ng pagiging isang propesor lalo na’t magtatatlong taon pa lang akong gradweyt. Wala pa akong teaching experience. Lecturer pa lang ako.

First Year College noon, sobrang excited ako na pumasok sa klase araw-araw.

Sobrang namangha at na-in-love ako sa mga konsepto nina Aristotle tungkol sa tao.

“Man by nature is a political animal,” wika niya. Yes, nararamdaman kong nagiging hayop ako sa pagkatuto. Inaral din namin ang pamahalaan, pati ang iba’t ibang sektor ng lipunan – ang kababaihan, mga katutubo, at mga manggagawa. Pero ang pinakapaborito kong parte, ang mga teorya sa pananaliksik. Kaya ba ginagawa ng tao ang ginagawa niya ay dahil may gusto siyang makuha mula rito? Dahil ba ito ang idinidikta sa kaniya ng lipunan, o dahil sa mga institusyong kaniyang kinabibilangan?

“Naging kasangkapan ang Pol Sci upang maging socially relevant ang aking mga obra.”

Na-in-love ako sa kaalaman, at para sa patuloy na pagpapalawig ng kaalamang ito, nais kong ilaan ang aking oras at lakas. I am happy to share this knowledge with my students. Nakakatuwa kayang magturo ng mga teorya sa kabataan, at kasabay nito ay natututo rin ako sa kanila. Bonus na lang ang pahirapan sila nang kaunti sa mga exam.

All the more, it is my fulfillment to see that they are able to apply these theories and concepts in their everyday lives, and make relevant contributions to the society. Para sa patuloy na pagkatuto ng mga kabataan, patuloy akong magtuturo.

Mr. Deviant ‘09: Ako na yata ang pinakapasaway sa lahAko na yata ang pinakapasaway sa lahat ng pasaway, dahil pagkatapos ko gumradweyt, pinasok ko ang isang industriya na sa unang tingin ay hinding-hindi mo mailalapit sa Pol Sci. E ano’ng magagawa ko? Ito talaga ang gusto kong gawin. Ito talaga ang hilig ko.

Ito talaga ako. Si Papa lang naman ang may gustong maging abogado ako, o ‘di kaya’y magtrabaho sa gobyerno.

Sinubukan ko naman. Pero ito talaga ang para sa’kin: ang gumawa ng pelikula.

Mahirap sa simula dahil wala akong nakuhang formal undergraduate subject tungkol sa paggawa ng pelikula. Lahat, niriresearch at ipinagtatanong ko lang. Pero nakahabol ako. Nang mas maintindihan ko ang proseso ng paggawa ng pelikula, mas naging malinaw sa akin kung paano ko bubuhayin ang mga karakter. Sulat. Nasa isip ko ang mga naaalala kong kuwento ng mga biktima ng AIDS sa thesis ko. Sulat.

Research. Revise. Sulat pa more. Patuloy lang sa pagsulat hanggang matapos ang isang manuscript ng pelikula. Ngunit masyado raw madilim at sensitibo ang aking kuwento. Tungkol iyon sa prostitusyon at AIDS. Hindi raw kikita nang malaki.

Inilapit ko sa isang institusyon ng mga indie film, at tinanggap nila ang manuscript.

Nabuo ang pelikula at ipinalabas sa mga kolehiyo at iba’t ibang pagtitipon upang maipakalat ang kaalaman tungkol sa pagiwas sa AIDS. At iyon ang naging simula.

Gamit ang matatalim na salita at sabik sa bawat tagpo, naipabatid ko sa aking mga manonood ang realidad sa pang-arawaraw na buhay. Naimulat ko ang maraming mga mata. Naging kasangkapan ang Pol Sci upang maging socially relevant ang aking mga obra, ‘pagkat maraming natatagong katotohanan ang nararapat bigyang buhay.

Daily Star Bulletin ‘08: Writing is my passion. Way back in high school, I was the editor-in-chief of our school paper. I wrote news, editorial, feature, sports… name it! I also enjoy writing short stories and poems.

Thinking about entering college, I wanted to take up something that will contribute

14

more to the society than just merely writing short stories for them. That’s when I decided to take-up Political Science.

It was an overwhelmingly new environment.

Aside from the academic life inside the university, I joined organizations sponsoring outreach activities where I got to meet the people who are the real stakeholders of societal issues, and I experienced their struggles first hand. I heard interesting lectures from experts and people from the academe, and interacted with people forwarding causes of different interest groups. I wrote papers narrating their stories, weaving facts with theories I learned from class. And then I realized my passion was enflamed by a new objective: to write the truth for more people.

With this, I decided to join the media after graduation. It was not difficult for me to deal with people and different institutions, especially the government. Because I got to see the bigger picture of things, I was able to ask the relevant questions to dig up information relevant to my audience.

But most importantly, I got to actualize the lesson of serving the people through giving them truthful information. I have the power to expose the corrupt and the illegal and to praise those who do well. I have the chance to set the agenda and accommodate issues relevant to the marginalized. acknowleDgment :

Napoleon Gonzales III, Aries Joseph Hegina, Moises Anthony Cruz

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Date a Political Science Major marie

athena

If the personal is political, then dating is political.

Date a Political Science major not because there is quite a number of them around you, locally and even as the market opens up in light of globalization. Though the relatively high supply of this bunch of know-it-alls may not have really translated into a high demand for them; in the dating arena, the Greeks practically ended up with each other’s company – well, some factors set aside.

Perhaps it was why interventionist modes became relevant. Or maybe Pol Sci majors just turned out to be misunderstood. Pol Sci majors may seem so exclusive, with all their language games kept to themselves.

But remember that the world you live in is also part of theirs, at least for four years (or more) they study your day-to-day activity.

And no matter how mundane and irrelevant you think your everyday actions are, they are important to your Pol Sci major, he or she who wishes to also be part of your world.

Date a Political Science major because he or she believes in power and power struggles.

If political science is all about politics and politics is all about power, then a Pol Sci major would understand that there would always be struggles, especially in your relationship.

c

.

ybaĂąez

If man is a political animal, then man has lived long enough to tame that animal inside and be with you through the struggle. Power, in the context of a relationship, may not always translate to authoritativeness, for in a relationship there will also be equality where the roles of each person would complement each other. In that relationship would lay power, collectively pursued, for the good of both parties inside the relationship. Dating a Pol Sci major does not mean that you should always submit to their decisions because in your own decisions lies your own power, a power that is equally vital in the relationship. It is that power which tells you what you both are capable of.

That very same power is essential for your self-determination in the relationship. You cannot simply enter a relationship without being assertive of who you are. A Political Science major would know that. Just as states need self-determination to serve its people, an individual needs to love him or herself first, independently, in order to fully appreciate and be fully appreciated. But just as a state enters the international arena, the laws of another may become the law of its own land. Your Pol Sci major will soon compromise, not because he or she wants to hurt him or herself, but because he or she is aware that he or she needs you.

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Your Pol Sci major needs you in order to become a better person: he or she needs you because you have the ability to complete him or her.

Keep in mind that you are a political man (or woman; Aristotle ended up with a guy, if that is worth noting), just like your special person, the Pol Sci major. You were both born with a specific genetic set of capabilities, lived a life with non-similar opportunities, and had different incentives in learning. There are various factors that would affect your sets of behavior, not only

“If timing is everything in war, it is also everything in love.” politically. Your personalities might clash: one might not give in even if one realizes that he or she is wrong, like traditional politicians do in debates. The political cultures that you share with your own family, rural hometown, city, or world region might not coincide with each other. Your political socializations might be one that is from the other end of the spectrum to you. But consider that you have traversed through the political spectrum and met this person as they have travelled from another point in the spectrum. If timing is everything in war, it is also everything in love.

Your differences might break your relationship or make it. But this person who studied Political Science day in and day out knows how to be sensitive to these differences. One cannot study the field without accepting diversity and being open-minded about it. There will always be differences in situation you cannot change.

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There will always be gaps between motivations. The Pol Sci major might begin to complain about the authority you have over them; you might question his or her legitimacy. Then the irregular base of power in your relationship begins to tremble.

But the Pol Sci major knows that there comes a time when one should become the negotiator or compromiser rather than the agitator. Because this person has placed very high a value to your emotional response, whether he or she wins or loses an argument with you does not matter. He or she will be inclined to find an acceptable solution – one that would be biased to your opinion, one that would let you win – rather than a perfect solution.

Your Pol Sci major can study you like the constitution. There are the written laws, like the stories you tell, the letters you write, the messages you send (which you somehow controlled in order to impress during your first few dates). But the Pol Sci major knows that there are also unwritten laws, ones that he or she has read through as he or she reached out for your hand, as he or she looked into your eyes while you were too busy ranting about how stressful your day was. He or she will have highlighted the things he or she said that has made you mad, encircled the times he or she has made you smile, and incessantly memorized your every provision. With you, there is no executive, no judiciary, no upper or lower house, no military; there is only one unique and distinct, you, and that alone makes him or her so engrossed in studying you, in knowing every machinery that works behind your every thought, in knowing every interest that shapes your personality.

You, to the Pol Sci major, are the Constitution, the law that binds everything.

Every action done from this point forward will always be in direct obedience to you.

No, this is not to say that the Pol Sci major is submissive; this is to say that he or she knows how to respect one that ought to be respected, one who has earned that degree of respect from him or her. Your Pol Sci major will always affirm independence, but there will come a time that he or she will be dependent unto you.

Take care of the heart of your Pol Sci major, for even though you might share his or her time for books, the masses, or his or her favorite political thinker, you hold the 99% of his or her heart. You are the ruling class that has penetrated every aspect of their development; the 1% is now shared equally with everything else that could be. And as status quo dictates, you have remained unfazed in holding capital of their heart.

Your Pol Sci major may believe in democracy as the best political system, but as long as someone as beautiful as you exists in his or her radar, he or she will continue to seek you like a person seeking power, which is arguably the very essence of politics. He or she may seek you to achieve mutual or collective good or to pursue self-interest, conscious or unconscious.

“they would gamble all the confidence in them in order to have the privilege to be powerless with you.�

He or she has placed high value on trying to achieve you that even if proficiency is at a minimum, they would gamble all the confidence in them in order to have the privilege to be powerless with you. Yes, you will take power from him or her, just as when you took all the force in their knees when you blew him or her away with your mere existence.

Date a Pol Sci major because just like every social science, he or she will deliver, for theory without practice is dead. Expect that every flowery word you hear would translate into concrete actions that would have been carefully planned out for you. Note that the Pol Sci major has had enough with the broken promises of traditional politics that they will make sure no red-tape would be in place between the both of you. This person will treat you as a co-equal and as a supreme leader at the same time. They will be democratic when it comes to your demands as long as you paradoxically hold despotic power over their heart.

This person will treat you like the society, seeing the reality. But a Pol Sci major understands that there is always a search for the perfect society. They would fantasize about a world where happiness is genuinely achieved: a cornucopia of agrarian reform, peace talks, gender emancipation, and the like. 2500 years of Political Science have gone by, from Plato to this Pol Sci major.

Maybe you are in his or her perfect society.

Maybe you are the perfect society.

This power-seeker-for-your-heart may not realize why he or she intends to do so, but he or she will continually rationalize the actions with conscious values and ideologies in order to be identified by you.

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The Roads We Travel rocel

The Ruler I spent long years mastering the field of political science, and now as someone who sits on the upper part of the institution, could I say it’s relevant? Hell yes, it is.

I am practically living out what I was just reading from our textbooks a few years back. I now run the institution, and all those lessons that I learned from political science sure helped me a lot.

It showed me the ropes on how I could manipulate the institution so that I would rise easily on top. I always thought that the structure of the government would not really matter to me in real life, but that knowledge is exactly what brought me good fortune. I knew where I should go, I knew who the right people to talk to are, and all that brought me to where I am now.

I remember learning about the masses, how powerful they can be when they are organized and well informed. I learned about where their strength could come from, so I also learned how to make them weak: cut off information, feed them lies, and manipulate the media. That is how you get apathetic constituents, people who couldn’t care less about how their government is taking away everything from them.

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I know I am not exactly the model political science student, in fact, I know that I could be considered as an abomination to the institution that taught me the principles of political science. I am not very proud of myself either. Maybe I used my knowledge of political science in the wrong way; I left out important parts, which is why the system that I once dreamed of changing ate me alive.

The Ruled I spent long years mastering the field of political science, and now as an active constituent of my country, could I say it’s relevant? Hell yes, it is.

I am now putting into practice everything I have learned from our political science classes. Everything I know, I am using it to challenge the current system and to catalyze change. It wasn’t an easy thing, especially since because as what we’ve learned, the problems run deep within the system.

I used to think that the political scientific knowledge I have would only be used if I worked in government or ran for a position. I was a shallow thinker then. Little did I know that, whatever I decided to be in life, I would be able to use it.

It showed me the ropes on how the state works, which parts are flawed, and what could be done to change them. It taught me the about the masses, how powerful they are when they are well-informed and organized. I learned about the importance of being vigilant and critical about the information I get. I learned that the media can be manipulated, but even with this, the truth will still prevail.

“I never thought I’d see you in this place.

How many years has it been since our graduation?” I asked.

I know I am not exactly the model political science student; I have a lot more to do.

I am yet to fulfill the ultimate dream of achieving a society that is fair for everyone.

I hope I am using my knowledge of political science in a way that is beneficial to the society. I would always remember that the most important of all is the people. For the benefit of the many. For the freedom of the society.

The Ruled I watched as he passed by me to step up to the podium. People are screaming their anger at him, but he kept his poise. Like it doesn’t affect him at all. But I know that it does. I could see it in his eyes. We may have come from the same discipline, but we chose different paths. We may have interpreted the same teachings in different ways, but in the end it was relevant. To him, the ruler, and to me, the ruled, but among the true bearers of power.

“It’s been long,” he answered.

I couldn’t say anything more. I was engulfed by shame. The people have once again showed their power, and I was on the other end.

The Ruler The crowd started to gather around me, yelling and screaming about how terrible I am. I saw a familiar face in the crowd. He was a classmate. And it seemed that he was among the leaders of this crowd.

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Reflections on the Relevance of Political Science edcel

john

1. The question of relevance is a question of relevance to. If we are, as I am, to judge the relevance of political science as a discipline, then we must first specify a subject to which it is to be judged relevant. I am thinking of no better point of reference to begin with than politics itself, the very object of study of political science. I thus pose the question, has political scientific knowledge benefitted the practice of politics?

2. The most radical way by which political science holds an influence in the practice of politics is by decreeing precisely which social practices may rightly be considered political. But ironically, we cannot trust for a definition the very political scientists who presumably possess an authoritative say about politics, for they themselves disagree and employ different conceptions to the same concept (perhaps because they overthink it).

3. Has over-theoretical-thinking by political scientists corrupted ordinary understanding of politics? The question presupposes the existence of such a knowledge as an ordinary understanding of politics.

By ordinary, I mean politics as understood by laypeople in contrast to the technical understanding of political scientists. Such an ordinary understanding must be possible because people already participate, actively or passively, in activities which they

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themselves already consider to be political without needing to confirm to political scientists whether those activities are properly political.

4. Politics must already be obvious to practitioners of politics, for had politics been obscure all along, it would be impossible for these practitioners to consciously practice politics at all. Politics is clear to the politician and the bureaucrat in their drafting and implementing collectively-binding decisions for the community. Politics is clear to the lobbyist and the civil society group in their urging for certain collectively-binding decisions to be adopted or abandoned. Politics is clear to the journalist reporting on the dynamics between the politician and the bureaucrat on the one side and the lobbyist and the civil society group on the other. Politics is clear to the layperson – the driver, the barber, the teacher, etc. – who consumes the journalist’s reports.

5. By contrast, politics must be obscure to theoreticians of politics, the political scientists, for had politics been obvious all along, it would be preposterous for these theoreticians to insist on theorizing politics at all – political science would only affirm the banal and not produce anything original. Precisely from this attitude that politics is obscure rather than obvious that

political scientists are justified in their attempt to make sense of politics. There must thus exist a pressure for political science to be counterintuitive, that is, counter-ordinary.

the conditions of my existence within a community? If politics is determined by latent structures, how could I act at all to change something unseen and unchangeable?

6. The extraordinary answer to the question in §3 would thus be: It is not that political scientists corrupt the ordinary understanding of politics, but that the ordinary understanding of politics is already corrupted, a condition of ignorance the cure to which the political scientist sells. I say sell because the cure is not free, for insofar

8. Political scientists are often too concerned with refining their theory and their methodology rather than applying these theories to practice. This insistence on theorizing has detached them from the community. (Is it surprising that political scientists do not dominate in policy formulation unlike economists, law experts, public administration experts, or others with more rigorous background in technical policy analysis?) But political scientists, when they finally delve into practice, sometimes demand formidable solutions.

(For an instance, violent revolution was, to the horror of humanity, once an accepted political solution. For another, Changing norms and public attitudes remain valid solutions, but given the magnitude involved, this is not an option seriously considered by policymakers.) Political science has wandered off the realm of policy – the arena that people ordinarily ascribe to politics – perhaps because of a conviction that it is too ordinary and not extraordinary enough.

“to make obscure the locus of politics is to make obscure the focus of meaningful social action.” as it comes in the form of language, the ordinary person with ordinary language must first be able to digest the extraordinary language – jargon – of the extraordinary political scientist. (Is it surprising that the layperson turn to the journalist rather than the political scientist for an interpretation of political phenomena?)

7. The politics I described in §4 is thus, to the political scientist, an incorrect rendition, for politics, he will profess with an air of authority, is beyond the realm of politicians. He will claim that politics is everywhere, even that the personal is political. He will also claim that the dynamics of politics are due to unseen latent forces or unchangeable structures. But in so doing, he mystifies politics for the ordinary person to whom political scientists dedicate their research. My point is that to make obscure the locus of politics is to make obscure the focus of meaningful social action. If politics is everywhere, where should I direct my attention to in order to struggle to change

9. Political science must do away with obscurity. First, political scientists must reject the attitude that they know better than their subjects, that they are extraordinary to the ordinary. They might even learn from the layperson. Second, political scientists must make their language more accessible, or at least, they must be able to explain their research in ordinary language.

Having made the language accessible, the content must itself be relevant. And so, for the third, political scientists must engage in solution- rather than theory-seeking.

(These are rather broad pronouncements, but the point is simply to return to the ordinary.)

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Some Footnotes 1. I think I am justified if my language here appears inaccessible to the layperson, who is not my intended audience. I address this to political scientists like myself.

2. Here are what influenced me in this writing: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 4th ed. (England: Blackwell, 2009); Bernard Crick, In Defense of Politics, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972); Gerry Stoker, “In Defense of Political Science,” Political Science Quarterly 83 (2012): 667–84.

3. There is no single, organic political science.

Political scientists by no means adhere to a single political scientific tradition.

There are various approaches to political scientific knowledge production that differ in terms of ontology, epistemology, and methodology.

4. Here is how I have come to understand politics. I am partial to Andrew Heywood’s conception of politics as, paraphrasing, the activity through which people determine the conditions of their existence within a collectivity (i.e., a polis). That politics concerns the settlement of collective existential conditions does not mean that it concerns only the public sphere.

Collectivity can be defined such that there are overlapping collectivities, from one as small as the family to one as large as humanity as a whole. By extension, those who determine collective existential conditions need not always be state actors, and the method need not always be formal decision-making. Indeed, social movements are also sometimes able to determine circumstances of collective living through agenda-setting and preference-shaping.

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The New Residual Social Science? christine

joy

“Come to think of it, it’s actually more favorable for Political Science majors if the country does go on an all-out war only because the ground is fertile for a lot more for us to research on,” one of my friends declared in jest in the wake of the Mamasapano incident. “If the BBL gets passed, only Public Administration majors will get to reap the research benefits.”

This point-of-view appears skewed in light of the circumstances, but it does successfully raise a critical question on the stalemate Political Science is in at the moment as we majors perceive it: what has come to be the purpose of studying PolSci that has rendered the discipline inert to approach relevant subject matters in all their possible outcomes?

Crouch (2001) once argued that sociology has occupied the place of a residual social science vis-à-vis political science and economics, which are made distinct by their clear-cut foci, power and wealth respectively. Sociology, as Trigilia (2001) would concur, has lacked “core motivational principle of action… and institutional clarity within the residuum” (242).

Claims to its being the most general or central social science have therefore been commonly set aside.

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However, in recent developments in the practice of the social sciences, perhaps sociology has already outgrown this position and the residual zone has found a new occupant. When issues such as state abandonment in Yolanda-stricken areas, the protracted situation in Mindanao, and the more recent Mary Jane Veloso case are discussed, one would find that commentators from the sociological perspective would provide sharper and more grounded insights in understanding the complexities of these social realities. Rappler’s Thought Leaders, for instance, would feature more sociologists than political scientists, and arguably, this avenue to communicate academic analyses to the greater public is critical in the discipline’s struggle to remain relevant.

This is where political science has become residual: while it may claim institutional clarity and a determined concentration on power, its inability to communicate with the public and other disciplines outside academic journals coupled with frustrating attempts at limiting the scope of the discipline provides a stronger case on its increasing irrelevance.

As an academic discipline, political science thrives on the ebb and flow of research output. As more and more professors and

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students write, theoretically, the development of the field will naturally be sustained. As we produce research in our classes, theses, and academic journals, these papers would supposedly be additions to what is already known about the social world.

It is with this ideal of research that a political science student often meets his first academic disillusionment. It begins in the first wave of topic proposals for research. The student takes the train of his natural curiosity and interest to arrive at one

“is it because this disturbance in the hierarchy of ideas has the potential of incapacitating our existing research frameworks?” determined topic, only for it to be rejected because it is too ambitious, too theoretical, too sweeping, or simply too irrelevant in the professor’s assessment.

I have been witness to one too many cases, and after several consultations and revisions on the topic, the student finally settles with a topic that is only a minute remainder of his original imagination. While I believe that research guidance is indispensable to the training of political scientists, I must beg to ask: is this not the dynamic from which the inability to approach relevant social realities finds its roots? What experienced academics perceive to be pertinent in research covers institutions, social media, political participation, voting behavior, or democratization, but their students’ resigned adaptation to this may actually be far from what society demands of us as social scientists. Not only is this in terms of immediacy but more so in the scope of what political science is capable of exploring.

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This apparent limit in scope seems paradoxical given the increased liberalization of political science as the study of power in all its forms and manifestations. Have we merely failed to catch up with it, or is it because this disturbance in the hierarchy of ideas has the potential of incapacitating our existing research frameworks? If politics is about power in all its three faces, then is the discipline’s character as a science the factor that drives its scholars to examine only the easily observable? This fixation by certain leaders in the field on maintaining its grip on empirics or formal rules leaves political science with one eye opened to observe; another, covered by the hand of inflexible tradition.

In theory, this liberalization should also have opened up critical avenues for the analyses of discourses, social constructs, psychology, and ethnographies – turfs conventionally thought to be outside political science.

This academic division of labor, brought about by the professionalization of the social sciences, may have allowed society to produce more and farther in the disciplines individually but the inability of scholars to move past this initial aim has also contributed to a resistance to crossing disciplinal boundaries to possibly venture into a more comprehensive understanding of the social world. A preoccupation with the specialization of political science in foci and methodology may have led it to be unable to communicate with other social sciences, reduced its illustrations to missing key puzzle pieces, and ultimately, drove our studies to a rigorous division of labor for the sake of producing quantity without synthesis.

There have been informal attempts to address this in the US, with the Perestroika Movement, initiated by an anonymous email sent by a certain

Mr. Perestroika to key professors, critiquing the current practices of the APSA in terms of methodology and relevance. Greg Kasza, a self-proclaimed perestroikan from the Indiana University recalled the time when “substantive political ideas identified most schools: we were elite theorists, pluralists, modernization theorists, dependency theorists, neo-statists, etc.

Now, methods identify the major schools: we are game theorists, quantifiers, or qualitative researchers.... Fewer political scientists today dream of forging a new theory of class conflict than of concocting a new form of regression analysis or a new puzzle like the prisoners’ dilemma.” (Kasza, 2003) To perestroikans, this imbalance and inflexibility in epistemological pluralism, meant the stilted development of political science and the narrowing of its audience who still find the field relevant.

Given all these, political science now holds a precarious position in both its relevance and ability to explain social phenomena comprehensively. I would still argue, however, that it has not yet completely become the new residual social science because no other discipline can possibly hinge on the concept of power as concertedly as political science, the potential of which may be its hope in preventing the imminence of its complete irrelevance.

David Easton, in A New Revolution in Political Science (1969), responded to the crisis of relevance and action in Political Science as post-behavioralism emerged in the field. In reference to a previously published Credo of Behavioralism, Easton identifies A Credo of Relevance associated with the post-behavioralist movement in which he lists seven points that aim to provide a resolution of the crisis: (1) substance must precede technique; (2) the ideology of empirical conservatism must be exposed;

(3) break the barriers and fill in the gaps of reality that behavioral language leaves; (4) one must always be aware of value premises in research as no science is neutral; and the last three points most importantly deal with the role of intellectuals, individuals learned in their disciplines, in society.

Easton adds that according to the Credo, political scientists, to remain relevant, must carry the burden of the historical role of intellectuals, i.e. “to protect the human values of civilization.” If this proposition seems abstract, he cuts to his next point clearly, “to know is to bear the responsibility of acting and to act is to engage in reshaping society.” Not only must the political scientist be contemplative in his research, he must also engage in an action science that reflects the conflicts and ideals of the society in which he belongs. Lastly, the Credo states that any association or institution composed of intellectuals “cannot stand apart from the struggles of the day,” and must necessarily be politicized.

Half a century after the publication of A New Revolution and a decade after the mass-sending of Mr. Perestroika, political science finds itself once more in a stalemate on the verge of being outrun by other social sciences in their development and relevance. Although the premises and conditions have changed, we find ourselves observing similar critical points time and time again. The question remains of whether we as political science students and social scientists can take on the challenge of reflexivity and aggressively counter these everyday dangers to our discipline’s relevance, or will we merely succumb to the increasing acceptability of these practices in maintaining the status quo that will ultimately render political science residual at best?

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Association of Political Science Organizations of the Philippines