It has already been pointed out that all political interventions, acts, decisions, tactics, techniques, styles, strategies etc. operated by political leaders, successful or failure, are not political technologies in the strict sense of the term examined earlier. To bring them within the parameters of ‘Political Technology’, a lot of work has to be undertaken. Till it is done, they can be nominally treated as ‘Political Technologies under Consideration’ (PTsUC). Processing of ‘Political Technologies involves refinement, repair, renovation and modification for their present and future use in a context-free sense.
This work is very necessary to update them for use to current political affairs. Thus, the task of merely identifying political technologies is not enough. Political operations and programmes undertaken in the past cannot be considered as ‘political technologies’ unless they are properly tested, refined, reformulated and redesigned as such. Politics and political scenario always undergo minor or major change.
As such, political technologies, applied in the past, have to be renewed and reoriented in view of changed political situations. However, discovery and identification of old and ‘under consideration’ political technologies presents us an opportunity to restructure and redesign the older ones suitable to newer situations.
Application of Political Technologies:
Processing of political technologies is updating them. It is taking them from ‘context’ to ‘problem’. Problem-specific political technologies always look towards ends and goals. A political technology is a kind of race or ‘run’ from problem to its goal. In its run all relevant factors such as time, events, concerning persons, cost and others have to be calculated and pointed out.
Finalisation takes places after political operations, experiences or activities are ‘identified’ under the concept of ‘political technology’. In it, identified political experiences are separated from their specific context, and generalised as problem-oriented political technologies.
This process undergoes certain stages:
(a) The relation between the political experience and the persons while solving certain problem or responding to certain demand is de-personalised.
(b) Non-essential factors are removed, and essential factors and features are retained.
(c) If it is found necessary, in view of its earlier inadequacies, deficiencies or weaknesses new factors, elements or additions or alterations are made.
(d) Thereafter, the impugned identified or under-consideration political technologies are tagged with particular categories of problems and demands.
(e) In view of new circumstances, they are further processed.
This process of processing goes on till identified political technologies are recognised as full-fledged and workable political technologies. Process of refinement can go on for long.
Identified political technologies that have proved useful or successful in the past may not appear viable for solving present or future problems. They can suffer from several limitations. Processing or updating identified political technologies is a calculated attempt to remove these limitations. After undergoing this process, political technologies may look ready for application. Processing of identified political technologies presents us an opportunity to restructure, redesign and apply them to newer situations.
Many political leaders now feel that a political academy should be set up. It is essential to nurture political management as a new discipline and to devise appropriate curriculum for training the politicians. The proposed political management courses at the academy can also aim at producing experts in this new discipline of democracy.
An academy may be of interest to business houses and all concerned citizens who wish to understand and use the political system for their own benign benefits. There could be both public as well as private initiative. Only after accumulation of a stock of political technologies it would be possible to build up an Engineering wing of Political Science. The latter might open vistas of research, trade and job opportunities.
Thus, one can undertake the task of solving problems found in any areas: of (a) social justice and democratic participation, (b) nation-state and globalisation, and, (c) internal subversion coming from communalism, fundamentalism and terrorism. In fact, an ocean of political experience lies ahead to be fathomed out of different nation-states, regional organisations, and inter-state and global community.