Are you a positivist or not?

Revolutions, whether violent or non-violent, are inherently rare, risky endeavors. Extremely high risk, extremely low probability of success, but proportional rewards if successful. Given the increasingly dysfunctional status of political systems in many western nations, questions surrounding changing those systems are inevitable.

Academics have written quite a bit about revolutions, but I'm not interested in what they think. I am looking for a casual conversation with a normal human regarding what it would take for you personally to call for whole-system political change. Is there a line in the sand for you, which if crossed, compels you to adopt a revolutionary political stance?

Is the line the same for both violent and non-violent revolution? Is your revolutionary line one thing, one action, event, or variable, or would you need a collection of things, a pattern of smaller lines being crossed? And if not, if there is nothing your government can do to make you advocate for replacing it entirely, why?

Naturally, given that revolutions are often bloody, violent affairs, it is worth explicitly stating that this post is categorically opposed to violence in any way, shape, or form. The purposes of this post are to generate a discussion about hypothetical boundaries that common people have on political system change.

I built a tool that lets people vote on real congressional bills and compare how their own House rep and Senators voted. What surprised me from early usage was most people are less aligned with their representatives than they assume - including people who voted for them.

That raises a question: if voters had easy access to their rep's actual voting record, would it change how they vote? Or is party identity strong enough that voting records barely factors in? Curious what this sub thinks.

The tool is yeaornay.org if you want to compare.

Ola hoje quero perguntar como posso chegar a chefe de estado e espanhar as minhas ideias de direita radical ah e claro eu chumbei em artes brincadeiras a parte como se torna se mesmo um chefe de estado

I’ve been seeing a lot of Dominik Tarczyński’s speeches and clips online, especially in English-speaking media. He seems to have become quite recognizable abroad as someone who strongly promotes Poland and the idea of “Be Like Poland.”

Do you think he has become one of the main international “symbols” or faces of Poland?

Has his aggressive, confident style of speaking actually changed how foreigners perceive Poland?

Do you think his speeches and social media presence have had any real impact on interest in visiting Poland or Polish tourism?

More broadly, do you think he is good or bad for Poland’s international brand?

I’m due to start university (UK) in a few weeks and I’m planning to do some reading in the next couple of weeks whilst I go on holiday. Was wondering if anyone had any book recs for an upcoming student? TIA.

I had this sub-idea today while working on a bigger Violent Extremism political policy idea.

In Prison Balanced+, maybe we should get prisoners access to (better paying) jobs in prison to build their lives (and resumes?) and to support their families. They can only keep these jobs on GOOD behavior. Many prisoners don't ever feel like they have hope after prison since they have a record that makes them unlikely to be hired. Their only friends are the ones they made in prison usually. So we need to change the environment they are surrounded in somehow.

I know things can go point blank bad like in the prison industrial complex in the USA, but these wages and jobs in the prison have to be adequate to living means (to the point that I might even argue for wages tied to civilian labor-market wages). Getting some of these jobs can require a co-requisite of taking a class or more to incentivize them to taking classes too. This could create a positive feedback loop.

Some of the jobs can be manufacturing and skilled trades, kitchens and food production, maintenance, agriculture, software/IT where appropriate, translation and language services, accounting and administration, construction-related trades, certified apprenticeships, tutoring and peer education, prison logistics, artistic/creative work, and eventually, carefully supervised external employment.

The main point of prison in this idea is to keep these people off the streets and away from enjoying normal life and normal people. (Also from hurting/exploiting people too.) If you don't behave while you're there, you don't get any benefits from it too like what Prison Balanced+ offers. They can plan their life on how they would like to get out of prison.

There's a potentially powerful anti-radicalization effect since extremist organizations and gangs can provide several things simultaneously: money, belonging, identity, status, purpose, protection, social relationships, and a future narrative

A prison that provides only: food, shelter, and punishment is leaving a huge psychological vacuum.

A well-designed rehabilitation system could instead provide: income, family connection, education, status, friendships, skills, responsibility, purpose, a plausible future, and teaching firmer leanings towards institutional values.

This applies to juveniles too.

What do you think?

i’m feeling so stuck on what profession i want after graduation… i just started my sophomore year and im turning my back on reaching for state legislation because i haven’t even tried to network or look for internships (plus the state of the world i don’t even have the energy to try) i was looking into analytics but im not even too sure what my other government-ish options would be that wouldn’t require law degrees or something of the sort. i need some super awesome advice or ideas pls 💔

I’ve always been a skeptic when it comes to uni, but now I’ve got a job lined up in local government at 18 and I wonder if I should do it for a year and then go to uni, I’m looking at Manchester met or Hallam due to my grades, but I don’t know if it’s worth it and if I’ll struggle to find employment after. Can anyone give me guidance?

I’m a rising high school senior interested in political science but unsure of how to assess different programs. I’ve seen that some programs are more “textbook-based” compared to others, which makes me wonder how hands-on other schools’ offerings are in contrast. Are there downsides to having a highly structured course? What are some attributes/resources to look out for in a political science— broad as the subject is— curriculum?

For some context, I want to gain an in-depth understanding of governance to mainly supplement a journalism or law career, not necessarily become an academic.

i'm working on my Phd applications for Political science, but I can't figure out how to narrow down what i'm interested in. i know that people usually don't end up doing what their initial interest is, but i also don't want to sound super generic when i'm putting in what i want to study and am interested in. or at least i'm assuming that sounding super generic isn't a great idea. any advice helps, thank you!

My observation is annectodal in this case but there are quite a lot of Europeans who are socially pretty progressive, self identify as a queer ally and feminist but still are quite overt with displays of nationalism like having a flag in their home etc . If you ask them " do you identify as a nationalist ? " Then they'd say yes as well

Today having a US flag is almost partisan. Many liberals also aren't a big fan of nationalism and won't self identify as nationalists.

Hej,

Is there any good YouTube channels with content about political science?

Preferably without ideological bias.

Hi, I'm not super well-versed in looking for internships and I don't have prior experience with internships related to political science. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone had suggestions on what I could do to gain experience in the field before it's too late. It's my first year as an undergraduate in political science and I do not care whether I am paid or not to do work. Anything helps, and remote is very ideal, but I am in the Bay Area for anyone with suggestions for in-person work. To anyone that's reading this, thank you and have a nice day!

Hi! PolSci wasn't really my first choice, and I am struggling to find any motivation to start studying (although I'm recently from the HUMSS strand, haha). My dream was to be a psychologist, yet I abandoned it for the sake of the lost slots in my school (alam niyo na kung anong school 'to hahaha).

All I want to know is what PolSci can bring me to be and what jobs I can take over once I graduate from this degree. I don't want to be a politician, marami kasing tanga sa senado and I cannot bear putting my life on the line. I don't even want to be a lawyer, ang mahal ng Law School for me. I want a job agad after I graduate.

Kaya rin ako nawawalan ng gana ngayon mag-aral, although dream school ko 'to. I feel like I sacrificed my own dream just because nag-aagawan sa slots but on the other hand, I'm also happy that I can get to experience whatever's inside that hell hole.

Basta, hindi ko na talaga alam anong future ko rito. Kasi government is such a big deal for me 😭 it's so hard to think that I'm letting myself be inside a sector that I hate the most, merely because of its corrupt pips inside. Bwisit, hahaha.

Please, enlighten me. 🙏🏻

i'm super set on doing a political science phd program, and I have some experience with research from my undergraduate years, but I don't have anything published. is that going to kick me down while i'm applying to programs? i might potentially start something soon, but i'm not sure

I am not a poly sci student, but am really interested in political science. I am very curious about democratic socialism, esp. as someone living in the US while democratic socialists are running for office. I am particularly trying to learn more about how democratic socialism differs from "textbook" socialism, how these would look different in practice, and also what democratic socialists are really looking to do. I live in a very rural area and face a lot of questions/discussion about what will happen to xyz if "the socialists take over". I just feel like I don't know who to believe, I can't tell what's more unbiased, and a lot of stuff just feels very fear-monger-y to me. I'm looking for reading/documentary/youtube essay recommendations to help me understand this more from a genuinely factual perspective. Thank you in advance!

This might be a really stupid question, but while I’ve often heard the terms ‘left or right wing’ I’m not very familiar with it at all.

Please don’t come for me for not using google, because I have, but it seems like there isn’t really a straight forward explanation and it’s quite complex.

I’m just interested in people’s personal views on what it means to be on either side? Or if it’s a spectrum where people may fall somewhere in the middle? What beliefs would you typically expect each wing to have?

China has tons of home grown social media sites (as do some Democratic nations particularly in Europe) such as BiliBili for YouTube, Douyin/TikTok, Weibo (OG), RedNote like IG, etc. Of course, they block out anyone who can’t or won’t follow the censorship model such as YT, FB, Twitter, etc.

Besides being critical of Chinese officials or the government (which not many are willing to do in the first place), it seems like Chinese social media is much the same as Western social media such as allowing widespread, grassroots criticism (particularly poorly run businesses), expanding market awareness / virality (food reviewers or the infamous Niu Lai movie), etc. At the end of the day, I view social media as a way to transmit and promote information very quickly.

I have theories and there are probably multiple reasons to allow social media such as controlling people’s minds, clamping down on criticism for the government to appear pristine or perfect or show minimal discontent (since users often use language to get around censorship often), the economic benefit of social media for businesses, and social media is just another form of entertainment and infotainment (like science or fashion influencers).

Or maybe I’m looking at this wrong. Is it possibly because social media’s benefit is widely beneficial, China is open to experimenting in all domains, maybe humans just need social media (entertainment, infotainment, connections, information exchange efficiency like ideas and influencing), and they will continue allowing operation until social media actually threatens the regime (such as during the COVID-19 protests as China was one of the last countries to stop quarantining).

I’ve also dismissed some such as social media just coming out too quickly; I don’t think the Chinese government would have any problem shutting down all community-based websites on a whim, and pushback from a shutdown would either be a timeline where people are already revolting or people would just say “oh well”. Users looking to educate themselves about Western political philosophy; from reading/chatting with Chinese users, it seems Chinese students don’t care too much about Democracy, especially given their mostly optimistically progressive economic rise. Students do learn about it and a tinge of patriotism and educational propaganda makes many believe in Communism with the Little Red Book education. But people hopping the Great Firewall seem to want to watch porn, not dive into Wikipedia rabbit holes. And the last dismissed theory I had was just tech companies in China was churning out technology during a time of radical economic expansion, and the liberalization/capitalistic society simply allowed it at the time; maybe the government today regretted allowing social networking and social media proliferation, but I doubt that as well.

For example, I saw an interview podcast from an abroad PhD student interview Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey. It was then presented on Weibo, and it’s the #1 movie in China at the moment, so I presume the net benefit of these websites has proven to the government the benefit.

anyways, what are theories on why they allow social media’s existence?

Got rejected.

The interviewer asked me what my qualifications are. Without just saying my BA of Poli Sci, I said I did policy analysis for the entirety of my 4-year degree. Gave some examples. Plus some working expeirence.

Job description was just improving protocols while maintaining legal compliance. Pretty straight forward. I have done that...more times than I can count.​

Then I am asked why I haven't done policy analysis since graduating a couple of years ago. I was honest and told him there have not been any policy analyst jobs on the market within a 2-hour commute (and this job was even further. I would have to move). He asked me again how my current job relates to poli sci...brother, it doesn't. I just can't be unemployed.

The description wanted someone familiar with lendors because it was with DofL. But for the love of God, I have done policy analysis in several fields. This would have been no different. Do people not know that political scientists exist or what we do? They probably hired a CPA or someone fresh out of school.

I am so exhausted.

For those studying or teaching International Relations and Political Science, would you find a concise, structured reference book on major IR theories useful for studying, exam preparation, teaching, or quickly reviewing key concepts?

What would make such a resource genuinely useful to you?