Political Science Quotes

“Democracy and decarbonization are often seen as enemies. Democratic processes are slow, and time is running out. But unless we are able to democratize our society, political and economic decision-making processes will continue to be dominated by those who have helped to cause climate breakdown up to now.

We cannot rely on the hope that the powerful will suddenly realize the need to tackle climate breakdown and take appropriate action. Even if they do realize in time, they will seek to protect their interests at the expense of the general interest. It is not hard to envisage a world in which wealthy nations respond to climate breakdown by building walls to keep at bay those displaced by rising temperatures.

Much like the separation between states and markets, the separation between man and nature is a liberal myth. Humanity is a part of nature. The fight against climate breakdown is not a fight to save "the planet"- the planet will continue to exist long after it is rendered uninhabitable for humans. The fight against climate breakdown is a fight to protect human life on earth. And that fight cannot be won by sacrificing millions of lives or the freedoms that make life worth living. But if we continue to allow the response to climate breakdown to be shaped solely by the powerful, this is the kind of "solution" we will get.”
― Grace Blakeley, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”
― Thucydides

“World leeches masquerading as world leaders, would sell their mothers if the price is right.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Political Science without biography is a form of taxidermy.”
― Harold D. Lasswell, Psychopathology and Politics

“Once the citizens are actually, genuinely, nontheoretically accountable of the welfare of society, beyond the prehistoric paradigm peddled by the state, all Capitol, Kremlin and White Hall will crumble to dust.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Governments don't exist to do what's right, governments exist to do whatever increases their chances to stay in power for another term - not this government or that government, but every government.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

“Never confuse culture with state. Some of the richest cultures of the world often end up with some of the most regressive states in the world - Türkiye, Azerbaijan, India, Italy to name a few, in the context of 2023.

So I repeat, never let your disapproval of a government make you bitter towards a culture. Government never reflects culture - if it did, I would not have penned a single Turkish word in my works - as opposed to the fact that, the Turkish culture is an intrinsic element of Naskarean literature.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“India is today on a voyage of self-discovery and the lessons of Awadh are its surest compass in that quest.”
― S. Jaishankar, The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World

“Many friends, few foes, great goodwill, more influence. That must be achieved through the India Way.”
― S. Jaishankar, The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World

“Being an ethical power is one aspect of the India Way.”
― S. Jaishankar, The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World

“Run for service, not office.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Liberalism is a symptom of remarkable privilege. In times of true injustice, no one debates gender pronouns and microagressions. In times of real conflict, no one demands the government come take their guns.”
― Candace Owens, Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation

“Our dream of heaven cannot be realized on earth. Once we begin to rely upon our reason, and to use our powers of criticism, once we feel the call of personal responsibilities, and with it, the responsibility of helping to advance knowledge, we cannot return to a state of implicit submission to tribal magic. For those who have eaten from the tree of knowledge, paradise is lost. The more we try to return to tribal heroism, the more surely do we arrive at the Inquisition, at the Secret Police, and at a romanticized gangsterism. Beginning with the suppression of reason and truth, we must end with the most brutal and violent destruction of all that is human. There is no return to a harmonious state of nature. If we turn back, then we must go the whole way, we must return to the beasts.

It is an issue which we must face squarely, hard though it may be for us to do so. If we dream of a return to our childhood, if we are tempted to rely on others and so be happy, if we turn back from the task of carrying our cross, the cross of humaneness, of reason, of responsibility, if we lose courage and flinch from the strain, then we must try to fortify ourselves with a clear understanding of the simple decision before us. We can return to the beasts. But if we wish to remain human, then there is only one way, the way into the open society. We must go on into the unknown, courageously, using what reason we have, to plan for security and freedom.”
― Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies

“Sonnet 1306

Doctors are not official representatives,
Yet they do their job quite efficiently.
Teachers are not official representatives,
Yet they do their job quite respectfully.

Public transport drivers ain't representatives,
Yet they carry their duties quite diligently.
Factory workers ain't official representatives,
Yet they fulfill their tasks rather honorably.

All the professions that actually require
some tangible skillsets and expertise,
don't rely on the jungle whim of democracy.
Yet the most glorified profession of all,
has no performance standards compulsory.

If this is your idea of a civilized democracy,
No wonder you still crave peace in nuclear weapons!
Only monkeys could confuse homicide with defense,
It takes a human to plant peace through illumination.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“All the professions that actually require some tangible skillsets and expertise, don't rely on the jungle whim of democracy. Yet the most glorified profession of all, has no performance standards compulsory.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“English: "Not voting means choosing totality; voting for an empty envelope means choosing democracy, but none of the candidates adequately represent your views."

Česky: „Nevolit znamená volit totalitu; volit prázdnou obálku znamená volit demokracii, ale žádný z kandidátů dostatečně nereprezentuje tvé názory.”
― Sebastián Wortys

“Nuestras imágenes no envejecen, se añejan, vamos quedando como un recuerdo en un portaretratos olvidado en las casas de nuestras familias en Venezuela, haciendo de nuestro regreso una utopía que se aleja tres pasos cada vez que damos dos.”
― Tannous Thoumi, La falta de papel en Venezuela

“Sin educación y con una sociedad aún más adormecida, estamos destinados a repetir los mismos errores que nos llevaron a la desidia en la que nos encontramos en la actualidad. Allí radica el problema de la falta de papel, uno de los logros más grandes del chavismo y una bandera que parece seguir enarbolando.”
― Tannous Thoumi, La falta de papel en Venezuela

“Dear li'l governments (The Sonnet)

Dear li'l governments of the world,

You don't have a friend in me,
If people are not your priority.
You don't have a friend in me,
If you thrive on inequality.

You don't have a friend in me,
If you're partial to one religion.
You don't have a friend in me,
If you're founded on nationalism.

Dear li'l governments of the world,
If you know what's best for you,
Walk the course of integration.
If you choose tribalism instead,
In me you'll find your abolition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Dear li'l governments of the world,
You don't have a friend in me,
If you're partial to one religion.
You don't have a friend in me,
If you're founded on nationalism.

Dear li'l governments of the world,
If you know what's best for you,
Walk the course of integration.
If you choose tribalism instead,
In me you'll find your abolition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Lions don't leave society in the hands of government. Government is second in command - civilians, chief commander.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Sharing is not socialism,
Caring is not altruism.
Helping is not humanism,
Reform is not politicalism.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yüz Şiirlerin Yüzüğü (Ring of 100 Poems, Bilingual Edition): 100 Turkish Poems with Translations

“Of course, what we care about most is whether today's young people will be upwardly mobile, not whether today's 40-year-olds did better than their parents. We should pursue that goal aggressively, acting as if the American Dream is under threat, even if we believe it's not.”
― Michael R. Strain, The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It)

“The bigger the entity and the more things it touches, the more susceptible it is to forces beyond its control. Maintaining stability requires far more work than formenting instability. Analysts of modern terrorism wring their hands over a version of the same dilemma: governments can win only by defending everywhere; terrorists can win by succeeding anywhere.”
― Cullen Murphy, Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America

“Keep struggling, o brave soldier - keep struggling till politicians become an extinct species and politics an extinct profession.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“Keep struggling, o brave soldier - keep struggling till politicians become an extinct species and politics an extinct profession. The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism selected randomly on the basis of charisma and popularity by hysterical whim.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“The problem with our inability to understand the ways in which capitalist planning functions is that it closes off potential alternatives to the current system. When politicians mess up, we're told that the state has grown too big, so we should cut public spending and hand more power to unaccountable corporations. And when corporations abuse their power, we're told that the solution is to give more power to the politicians who are funded by those corporations. Power remains concentrated at the top of the same institutions, even as politicians lose elections and corporate executives are replaced. The elite carousel gives many people a deep sense of hopelessness. No matter who you vote for, no matter what products you buy, no matter where you work, it doesn't seem to make a difference. Yet we're supposed to live in a free-market democracy. We're supposed to be free.”
― Grace Blakeley, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

“Marxist theorist Ellen Meiksins Wood argued that the 'separation of the economic and the political' was one of the defining features of capitalist ideology. Democracy is permitted in the political realm (within formal state institutions) while it is strictly limited within the economy (within the corporation and the market). Yet the designation of the corporation as an 'economic' institution disguises the forms of 'private government' that obtain within the firm. And the understanding of the state as a political institution insulated from 'the economy' obscures how the exercise of state power is shaped by a process of social struggle in which capital dominates. The fusion of political and economic power in capitalist societies means, Meiksins Wood argues, that democracy 'has become synonymous with socialism'.”
― Grace Blakeley, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

“To understand socialism in this way, we must accept that the divide between capitalism and socialism is not defined by technical questions like the operation of the price mechanism, the extent of planning of markets, or even the balance between the public and private sector. These factors are all important in shaping the way socialist and capitalist societies function, but the difference between the two is far simpler. A capitalist society is a class-divided society in which power is monopolized by capitalists and their allies. A socialist society is a classless society in which power is shared and decisions are made collectively. A socialist society is, then, a true democracy.”
― Grace Blakeley, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

“What, you might ask, has happened to Schumpeter's powerful forces of creative destruction? Barriers to entry-whether regulatory barriers, the cost of investment, or anticompetitive behavior by the corporations themselves-allow monopolistic firms to retain their power by preventing new firms from entering the industry. In big tech, large incumbents police the so-called kill zone in their marketplace by "hoovering up or squashing any potential competitors." Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have, between them, "collectively bought over 436 companies and startups in the past 10 years and regulators have not challenged any of them.”
― Grace Blakeley, Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom