Politics is the art of ordering a society. Geopolitics allows you to get an expanded view of the various national, regional and global scenarios. From this it follows that we can only consider political citizens, those who verify a task of social influence with the aim of specifying an order that makes possible the development of individual interests, these being confused in the collective.
What is a political order?
Like an order in the field of international relations, the politician must always be a being dissatisfied with the existing order, of a situation that must be improved to approach the desired goal of the happy peaceful coexistence of men in society.
How does the politician express his computer program?
If by logical deduction and social experience we accept the need for the political function, it is also logical to deduce that a being (man or woman) with a certain vocation, possessor of certain faculties, has a good style of expression; strong-willed, she is capable of good government.
Reality shows us that politics is a professional task and that the quality of those who practice it is, generally, in proportion to the intensity of dedication to their professionalism.
My experience accumulated in 20 years as an official of the OAS in Chile, later in the Legislative Power in Uruguay; having acted in diplomatic negotiations in the past; Today it allows me to consider politics as a profession not suitable for improvised, since it is based on two fundamental pillars: a natural vocation that prints character; and another that requires knowledge and knowledge, that is: training and preparation.
The political vocation is as certain as it is rare
Wrote Robert Michels -German sociologist, disciple of Max Weber, specialized in the political behavior of intellectual elites, (1876-1936) - "In democratic organizations the activity of the professional leader is overwhelming, and generally, extremely complex" • And he finishes his thought: "Only the vain, the opportunists or the immoral, accept the always risky and problematic political responsibilities without a professional sense." I add: the politician must be independent, but not from politics itself, but from extrapolitical economic forces.
Meeting with the leader
We know what is the timbre of your voice, what are your favorite phrases; generally it is smooth, courteous, a language without vulgarity. The leader teaches us to speak properly, not to get confused, so he tirelessly repeats formulas and rules. For the Hungarian philologist Stephen Ullmann (1914-1976), "Politics is nothing more than a use of language" (in "Language and Ethics)", while for the 1919 Nobel Prize, Thomas Mann says in his book " The Magic Mountain ”; "Politics was born from the conjunction between literature and humanity", from which it can be deduced that doing politics is nothing more than making literature of life, looking for words to explain it. Meanwhile, the German philologist Kart Buehler (1879-1963) defined the word as a sign whose essential function is to reveal what is hidden.
In the current electoral campaign in Uruguay, signs and expressions are presented - graphed and more oral - that deserve what was a politically cultured people will to shame.
The "should be" must be built on a strict consideration of the "being" of the community. Unfortunately, today there are candidates for political office who are making the wrong method, who ignore the ethical route; that they forget that all political action must improve the community, in such a way that even if it is succeeded by a less effective political situation, the social and cultural reality does not appear deteriorated.
The predominance of the rational or the passionate of some political speeches or interventions, defines, in addition to the individual character of the person who exposes, the mood of a not advisable mode of political realization. The politician must have the capacity to become rigorously superior to the average man, since his responsibility in the exercise of leader is much broader. Going through my notes again, I read the inevitable Nicholas Machiavelli when he advised The Prince: "I believe that the prince whose way of proceeding is in accordance with the conditions of the times can be happy, and the one whose conduct does not conform to the time may be unfortunate".
Politics and culture
The world is going through a difficult time of transition. The changes are happening vertiginously, will they be beneficial? Will the values of the past - already on the verge of extinction - remain valid and strengthened? We live the fourth or fifth wave of Toffler; the Kondratieff scale - that of deep, radical changes. Any historical moment conducive to recounting, to formulating a new or renewed project, places the political man between tradition and the future of a people. It is important to keep in mind that between tradition and the future there is a precise point of political reflection: the point of exactitude and realism.
Political activity - both national and international - is a permanent confrontation with the future that must have a spirit of foresight and dominance that requires two conditions: common sense and social possibility, as well as self-assurance and power. Hence, the contribution of geopolitics is very prominent, since it allows maintaining a balance between reality and concept, that is, between what is convenient and what is projective.
When referring to politics and culture, I link the scope of University and Politics, considering by default that it is a dangerous experiment for both parties. If the University becomes politicized, it runs the risk of betraying itself by neglecting or, perhaps, detracting from its essential purpose, its service to absolute and scientific truth. Extremely intellectualize politics and turn it into knowledge that can be reached exclusively through the paths of theoretical effort, is a myth that undermines its effectiveness.
In reality, neither the University must specifically fulfill a political purpose, nor can politics become exactly one more science in the range of university knowledge. The issue is that the University, as an institution, is irretrievably embedded in the historical destiny of a nation, and politics has, along with its pragmatic aspects, deep cultural foundations and many suitable sectors and in need of a broad scientific development.
In the success of such a conjunction lies the broad and continuous progress of a society that sets itself the goal of permanent and just renewal, in order not to be marginalized or lethargic in these confused times.
