This Is Why Scientists Should Be The Next-Gen Politicians

Scientist Politicians have a structured approach to thinking. Their calculated decisions bring prosperity & opportunities. Scientific ethics, dedication & optimism remain assets of their top leadership skills.

Introduction

COVID-19, the global biological disaster of 2020, a disease that has already been declared to be a ‘Pandemic’ by the World Health Organization, has taught us the need of having science experts as our leaders. While China, Taiwan & South Korea have got huge success in containing the viral outbreak, European Union, Indian subcontinent & United States have been crippled in the battle by this invisible enemy.

Amongst EU nations, Germany is leading the herd by conducting a large number of tests, making evidence-based challenging decisions & taking stringent safety measures being equipped with countrymen’s support & trust. But what is helping this country to lead the pack? Scientific leadership at the top. This led me to think that this situation can’t be more relevant to discuss this topic with a couple of instances in hand. Although Germany’s success is to be highlighted the most in this context, a bird’s eye view would also help us comprehend why scientists should be out next politicians.

The German Success

Germany reported its first confirmed case on 28th January but the country refrained from putting on restrictions until the first week of March. Health Minister Jens Spahn denounced COVID-19 to be a ‘global pandemic’ on 4th March, at a point when WHO was still weighing the impact of the outbreak to be worthy of a ‘pandemic declaration’. As of 30th April 2020, Germany has recorded 163K confirmed infections, 118K recoveries & 6.6K deaths. This tally is much less worrisome compared to other EU nations & keeps improving day after day. Germany’s remarkable effort & preemptive actions have prevented the EU from falling apart when its other nations are still grappling to recover from an aggravated bad stage of this pandemic.

Now, the question arises what kept Germany away from the distressful circumstances that other EU nations faced? The answer should definitely include these three elements: honest facts, national integrity & wise compassionate decisions. This credit is attributable to the German chancellor Angela Merkel, a quantum chemistry doctorate & veteran politician. Her well-informed, prudent decisions assisted Deutschland to emerge victoriously.

It’s a mystery why she left science & decided to run for the Democratic Awakening party. Although she switched from science 30 years back, what didn’t leave her were those scientific thinking skills. Her deliberate probing of emerging new figures & cautious consultation with field experts remains the topmost priority of her decision-making process.

History reveals Germany overcame WWII trauma swiftly. Its ‘almost destroyed’ economy outgrew other EU nations the fastest. Germany’s extraordinary pharma companies are pioneers of modern, revolutionized pharma industry & one of the biggest contributors to the nation’s GDP. This couldn’t be possible without its allegiance to science & its passionate reverence for scientific achievements. Merkel is one of those stalwarts who embraced the scientific thinking approach to keep a check on those figures & rescued Germany from succumbing to this biological disaster.

Scientists Turned Politicians

So far, I’ve highlighted how Germany appears to contain the outbreak & saving hundreds of thousands of its native lives. This is not the first time that a scientist turned politician has used her intelligence to combat in dire situations. Eventually, scores of scientists in the US are considering joining politics, following their president’s poor & uninformed decisions, to take matters in their abled hands & make ‘America Great Again’. Let’s have a look at what scientists across different eras did & doing in their political career.

1. Margaret Thatcher: A former Oxford University graduate, worked with Dorothy Hodgkin (awarded with the prestigious Nobel prize later) specialized in crystallography techniques. After graduation, Thatcher moved to start her political career & eventually went on to become prime minister of the United Kingdom. She was one of those paragons who tackled global warming. She has founded the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change & the British Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction & Research.
2. Stanislao Cannizzaro: This Italian chemist is famous for his name reaction (‘Cannizzaro Reaction’), a talented scientist who joined politics in the early 1870s. Eventually, he was elected vice-president in the Italian senate & rendered important services to the cause of science education in Italy.
3. Jimmy Carter: The 39th US president was an engineer with a Physics major who had established the ‘Department of Energy’ in his cabinet to deal with the ongoing energy crisis in the 1980s. He contributed to US energy conservation, an increase in coal reserve & careful control of nuclear power.
4. Andrew Weaver: This Cambridge University graduate & Canadian climate scientist abandoned his 26-year long career to successfully run for office in 2012. His vast experience is being an asset in making environment-friendly policies. He has been a strong supporter of clean technology & energy.
5. Cedric Villani: A French savant, who has bagged a Fields Medal for his ground-breaking contributions in Mathematics, was elected to National Assembly & became vice president of French Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific & Technological Choices. He is now intending to run for another term in his constituency in Paris.

This list is very much extensive with some of the affluent figures like Benjamin Franklin, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Harrison Schmitt, Vern Ehlers, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Robert McCredie May & many more. Hope the list would keep expanding as time goes by.

Politicians With Scientific Ethics

It’s also true that some of the greatest intellectual minds had suffered usual difficulties with this transition & often got overwhelmed by complexities of politics. But these reputed scientists transcended across the career borders & mostly had a very successful career as an accomplished politician. These people actually make us ponder whether we should have a greater proportion of scientists in our parliaments. This idea is gaining traction & attracting the attention of many experts who are willing to embark on a new journey in politics leaving their promising careers.

So, let’s get back to our main theme of this article-why do we need scientists as politicians? As Australian marine scientist Emma Johnston said & I quote, ‘We know that scientists love facts & figures, they love the process, they love vision, so I think the injection of more science, technology, engineering, maths & medicine trained politicians into that system would naturally increase evidence-based decisions taking place’. Her opinion is very crucial at a point when several leaders are taking serial missteps while trying to control this outbreak & risking the precious lives of their countrymen.

Statistics show that only 5% of politicians studied science disciplines, 7% have backgrounds in engineering, 21% majored in political science & 17% were law graduates. So, an inadequate number of science people are policymakers, a community that should grow consistently for the sake of fact-driven policy-making & promulgation in a pragmatic way. Andrew Weaver says, in law, a person with the greatest argument wins whereas, in science, a person with the best evidence steals the glory.

Science triggers imaginations in visionary minds & teaches them to be efficient in making sound decisions, backed by evidence, not prejudices. Trained minds unveil their intellects through well-reasoned creative principles. This intellect is to be channelized for the well-being of people & push the human race forward. That’s why scientists should be our next-generation leaders who will empathetically work for their followers’ prosperity & scientifically keep vested interests at bay.

Although the argument doesn’t endorse the notion that all seats of our senate houses be occupied by scientists, it argues that the number shouldn’t be so small like 5% either. It’s supposed to be optimal. Not only we need scientists & engineers, but also we require lawyers, political scientists & economists to work in tandem & collaboration. Only then, citizens would be making most out of their fundamental democratic rights & taking the pride of being a resident of a developed nation.

The Bird’s Eye View

As we’ve already seen how the American president struggled to protect his country & the majority of European leaders scrambled to save their countrymen. In contrast, China has set an example with action-oriented aggressive leadership which stopped the spread within the stipulated time frame & resisted community transmission. Although many have raised questions about transparency & honesty of figures given by China, their maneuvers in containing the outbreak depict their charismatic leadership at the top. Chinese politics is dominated by scientists & engineers. This reflects a potential cause of why Chinese economic growth kept soaring over the last couple of decades & could house the global manufacturing industry.

Meanwhile, Ireland has managed to keep the situation under control. Leo Varadkar, the Indian-origin Irish prime minister & a physician, is monitoring the situation & his detailed directives are contributing to flattening the curve (only 21k confirmed infections & 1.2k deaths so far). On the other hand, South Korea also succeeded in preventing the outbreak. Its strategy of ‘Test, Test & Test’ (conduction of a large number of tests) is being recommended by UN chief to other struggling nations to follow.

Some exceptional people are also there without any science background whose leadership capabilities amazed the world. Like, Jacinda Ardern, a former arts grad & current prime minister of New Zealand, is an exemplar of extraordinary leadership. When the contagious disease was about to enter the country with its full potential, the leader had anticipated the drastic consequences & prevented infection rate from skyrocketing by the timely imposition of restrictions. Her call to impose lockdown throughout the nation is being praised throughout the world.

Conclusion

’Science Readers will be National Leaders’, perhaps this should be our next epoch-making quote. We should prepare our minds to envision our next generation politicians as ‘Men in White’ aprons, behind black suits. Leaders who won’t be putting void promises on the table but would rationalize the promise with data, telling us when it could be fulfilled or whether it's possible to fulfill at all.

We need our leaders not to be dishonest with their countrymen, get perplexed under adverse circumstances & be mere puppets of their advisors when the abnormality strikes. Our leaders should be argumentative, elite analyzer of information, be strict with law promulgation & tough reformer for the sake of their countrymen, not for political gains. Let’s look forward with optimism & overcome all obstacles with our focussed, ethical leaders.