Tag Archives: Education

issues

Reclaiming Journalism: Elevating Policy Over Political Drama

Taiwo Oyedele & Anthony Blinken. Images from AB Magazine and The New York Times

One of the greatest needs of human society today is to resist the temptation of letting politics overshadow the narratives of development. Unfortunately, this has become increasingly common, leading to the erosion of qualitative conversations about substantive issues. Add to this the high-speed consumption of information and the democratized media space, and we find ourselves caught in a spiral of ugly dialectics, yielding little more than sensationalized reportage with no progressive value.

More troubling, however, is how journalists, who are meant to shape public discourse by asking intelligent questions of those in power, often veer into the realms of mischief. They court political jesters who “must politic” instead of engaging meaningfully with policy experts. Even when they sit down with individuals who staff the critical nerves of public policy, their focus tends to remain firmly on politics, leaving policy discussions as an afterthought.

Continue reading →
Standard
issues

Public Policy and the Critical Factors of Time, Skills, Resources, and People (2)

Skills – The Engine of Policy Execution

Skills are the lifeblood of effective policy implementation. Public policy is about ideas translated into action, and the competence of the individuals and institutions involved determines whether those ideas thrive or flounder. While the vision of a policy may be grand, without the right skills to design, execute, and adapt it, even the best-intentioned efforts will fall flat. Conversely, skilled policymakers bring so much wisdom into how governments deliver on their mandate and promises.

In public policy, skills operate on multiple levels. Policymakers require analytical skills to craft sound policies, negotiation skills to build consensus, and foresight to anticipate challenges. On the other hand, the bureaucrats and technocrats who implement these policies need the technical know-how to translate concepts into actionable programs. Then there are the citizens, whose awareness and participatory skills can significantly influence a policy’s reception and success.

Continue reading →
Standard
Academia, Education, issues, Networking, University

LEVERAGING ACADEMIC NETWORKS FOR CAREER EXCELLENCE

Applied Knowledge is Power

A paper presented at the “Town and Gown” Series at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Nigeria.

Knowledge is power. So goes the popular maxim, which has been severally explored and tweaked in various ways that sometimes we fail to fully deconstruct its essence and practically explore the functional relationship between knowledge and power. While knowledge, on the one hand, is nearly impossible to quantify, its effect on human life is totally verifiable and measurable.

On the other hand, power is quantifiable but its effect is sometimes very hard to measure. Though power can mean different things, we are limited in this discourse to the framework of power as professional competence and the capacity to effect change in any area of human endeavor. It is the marriage of knowledge and power that forms the theoretical basis of my offerings in these thoughts.

In restating the premise of my thesis that knowledge is power, I consider Steve Fuller’s conceptualization of knowledge as “positional good” to be profound enough to terminate this thought. This is in the sense that knowledge expands or extends “the knowers possibilities for actions by contracting the possible actions of other”. If I know what you know, then you have no advantage over me, except in the case where we also have to measure the application of such knowledge. But if I know what you do not know, then I am elevated in advantage. So, yes. Knowledge does confer on one extended possibility for actions that sets one at advantage over others.[1]

Continue reading →

Standard