The Flawed World of ‘Politics’

The recent developments that are unfolding in electoral politics have made it necessary to take on board the relationship between two dispositions—optimism and cynicism. Cynicism and optimism are necessarily two opposite dispositions, but they survive in their interdependence rather than separation. Although, in the liberal framework, it is optimism that precedes cynicism, the betrayal of such optimism by parochial politics—by its very logic—tends to produce a sense of cynicism at two levels: at the level of the public as well as that of the intellectual critic.

Ideally, optimism should form the normative basis of politics. Optimistic politics, in an ideal sense, offers a promise to first remove or keep at bay the element of frustration and despair, and second, to help the political agency of a person or community acquire moral power to influence and have an impact on the government in power in order to improve the life conditions of common people. In liberalism, the primary focus is on institutions, which in a general sense offers the promise of institutional inclusion for communities that are historically excluded and hence need to be included in the opportunities for empowerment ensured through the democratic principles of such institutions.