The art of politics rests on three important legs. The science of government, the science of influencing governmental policy and the science of winning and holding control over a government. In good old days, politics was inextricably entwined in money and muscle power. Not anymore. Science and technology have invaded drawing rooms in our lives, so much so, that today, no work gets done with simple age-old wisdom. A smart phone has virtually replaced the social network that a joint family had. The way politics has evolved, from substantial events that connect people, to more peripheral issues, albeit with all-encompassing technology, is worth a study in itself.
The basis of a good campaign strategy is, first, to recognize the reality of the campaign or broader context in which the campaign is being run and second, to set an appropriate goal that, if achieved, will win the election. This basis for the campaign helps dictate what the campaign will look like, how it is organized, and the role of political consultants and technology, in such a campaign.
If a politician from past centuries, be it 200 or 2000 years ago, were to time travel to this decade, he/she would be pleased to find politics and social unrest, still call the shots, for social groups to survive. Someone always wants to be in charge, and someone is always unhappy with the way things are. Leaders have always used private or public communication tools and propaganda to gain or maintain power, and those who oppose them, have always used the same to overcome them when necessary. In renaissance Europe, in 1500’s printing presses gave information to the masses. The postal service moved things a step further in our early history. Today, those same ideas have been continued with Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
The difference today, with instant communication possible on a global scale, through email, and social media, is that these things happen much faster, and often much more effectively. The near ubiquitous nature and adoption, of social media and online information dissemination in general, has brought the leaders and the people nearer. This is the crux of modern-day root of politics. If there is a science and technology element in modern politics, can we model it mathematically? This could be akin to guaranteeing wins for political parties since the three tenets stated become operative only when a party wins. The answer is yes.
An objective function for winning elections f (WE) could be modelled as a summation of products of all influencing factors with their associated weights and then solved, as an optimisation problem. Obviously, the trick is in identifying accurately the influencing factors and weights associated with each of them. This approach needs a great insight into the interplay of various elements in politics. Needless to say, this results in non-linearization.
Some obvious influencing parameters would be people, location, the protagonist or the politician, money, policies, SWOT of incumbent, SWOT of challenger, role of technology and the unknown. The problem assumes seriousness when we realise that each influencing parameter will be governed by its own objective function that is also nonlinear. A business model evolves too, when the entire paradigm of politics is turned on its head, when just one influencing parameter, the politician or the main protagonist, becomes the pivot point, all other factors dominated and virtually taken over by technology.
Do we then, really need career politicians? Can we create politicians in the world of make believe? Gone are the days when lofty values guided politician’s objectives. One entered the political world in his or her midlife or twilight years and was preferred for the wisdom. Let’s dissect the entertainment world for there are several parallels. Several middle-aged actors and actresses in some memorable films entertained with their histrionics and people loved them too, through the ages. The age of the actor, has drastically come down in films today. Catch them young seems to be the current byword. Many tele serials actually field a 15 year something as the main exponent, who can emote well. There are several child artistes who could probably give a run for money to the most established in the arena. Several training schools have consequently come up in this space. Can this be a game changer in politics as well, for the objective function of a politician, will have similar influencing parameters like, personality, ability to emote, ability to influence people, oratory skills, technology savviness, family background, knowledge of current affairs, knowledge of history, loyalty, age, standing in society and a personal value system.
Strategies are anyway created with IT tools like big data, used to gather information about individuals, for the benefit of the political parties, so that they determine the best approach to get votes. For a party, the foremost thing to understand is, which sector of the society they should focus i.e. reaching out to the right voters. Analytics plays this role by grouping the data regarding the voting pattern, which can be analysed further to decide the process of campaigning. One factor that can help a party is to understand the census data. This helps the party to decide the type of campaigns for different sectors. Email Marketing and Blogging is imperative today, since political parties reside on the social media sites for publicity. Parties launch many petitions or donations and rallies. Campaigning requires lots of resources and finance which needs to be spent efficiently. The response from the public needs to be recorded to decide “target citizens”. Branding of the political Party is a must wherein media plays an important role in framing the image of a particular party. Mobile Analytics can help to make the system transparent. All the strategy and rendering necessary, is directly a technology initiative and IT giants in the business have effective solutions. What then remains? Seriously, the heart of the campaign, the politician or the leader alone is the differentiator.
A school on the lines of FTII could come up for teaching acting, emoting and oratory skills to budding politicians. This could start as early as 15 years so that he would be ready by the time he is 18 years of age. The age to contest elections could come down to 18 since he/she is anyway allowed to vote at that age. Seasoned politicians can go and fly a kite or reskill or upgrade their skills to stay relevant. An aptitude test would separate the weed from the chaff. Retired civil servants could train them in the ways of the government. Personality and interpersonal skills could be honed in a finishing school. Ideologies and party policies are anyway the domain of the party network that will never allow an individual to grow beyond the party. Single most separating line then is acting, emoting and oratory skills. After all there are in history, any number of actors turned politicians and politicians becoming actors in real life. The whole country can witness political potboilers that gross hundreds of millions and if a small entertainment fee is levied, it can even fund the party, elections and fill government coffers.
Quacquarelli Symonds and Times Foundation would be delighted to rate and rank such political skills imparting schools on outcomes. Several schools would spring into being since cricket, films and politics, always have had a field day in the country. New employment opportunities for trainers, a whole lot of subsidiaries in the supply chain and new business models to study, for the management schools would evolve.
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable, and the art of the next best” said, Otto von Bismarck, which means, “It’s not about what’s right or what’s best. It’s about what you can actually get done”. It’s associated with realpolitik. In a way, realpolitik, dramatics and technology have become strange bedfellows of the modish political juggernaut.