Session 14- Lets Keep Writing!

Before I took this course I had absolutely no idea about what political science even was. Even though the readings until now were lengthy and exhausting they have indeed helped a lot and provided an overall frame work in understanding what International Relations actually is. Previously, I had studied topics such as the great Wars and the Cold War only from a historical perspective. However, after studying about different IR theories, I can now view these concepts even from a political point of view.

Another thing that is evident is how scholars just love to write. They can write pages and pages about a particular phenomenon. Moreover, most of the academic writers use complicated language and difficult grammatical tenses in order to make their work sound more professional and unique. For example, Kenneth Waltz in 1959 published his book called ‘Man, The State and War’. This book was constructed through simple language so it was easy to read and comprehend. However in 1979, Kenneth Waltz published his book called ‘Theory of International Politics’ which was a complicated piece and much more difficult to understand. Therefore, we can see that at times when people go up the scholarly ladder they tend to lose their simple and effective style of portraying things and become more detached from the ordinary world. Therefore, Mills says that individuals should not use complicated language which makes it difficult for the common man to realize what the person is trying to say. Moreover, why make things complicated when they can be easily understood?

Lastly, another thing that I found amusing is that if a scholar doesn’t agree with someone ideas they end up writing their own articles to challenge that point. They then try their level best to give proofs to negate the other persons point. Therefore, in short if one wants to become a political scientist then his or her life revolves around writing, writing and more writing.