Again, the task of the political scientist
should not be to condone or condemn this state of affairs, but to try to understand
why people feel so disenfranchised. Consequently, the researcher should tackle
and discuss the policies which make those populations suffer. Unfortunately,
this is not something which most political scientists seem in the least
concerned about. ‘Not to laugh, not to lament, not to detest, but to
understand’ said Spinoza. Before looking down on the
disoriented and angry voters who fall for the demagogues or dismissing all
‘radicals’ as undisputed ‘populists’, it would indeed be worth pausing for a
moment to understand how those agents feel and to ask what they want.
Political scientists should also wonder why more and more ‘moderate’ voters no longer believe in the enchanted world of ‘moderate
politics’.