Let Us Elucidate the Structures of Power Surrounding Us with a Critical Spirit

In our daily lives, we obtain information about events occurring in our own communities, regions, nations, the world, and the universe from various media such as newspapers, television, the internet, books, and magazines, and we make decisions to live happier lives. Corruption, the declining birthrate, the gender gap, depopulation, economic stagnation, digitalization, personal information protection, economic security, cognitive warfare, US-China conflict, terrorism and war, poverty, environmental destruction, global warming—these issues that fill the media every day are what political science analyzes. It focuses on the nature of "public power" and envisions how power should be structured to bring about human freedom and a prosperous life.

The characteristics of political science lie in the breadth of its subjects and the diversity of its approaches. For example, even taking "democracy," one of the main themes of political science, one can discuss the nature of democracy based on the history of political thought or normative theory, or one can derive theories inductively from experience and practice. It is possible to discuss it based on the internal perspectives of Japan, various countries, or local communities, or to compare the state of democracy in different countries and regions based on specific indicators. Furthermore, the perspective of how the value of "democracy" is used as a tool for governance through international relations and international organizations, and what kind of impact it brings, is also important.

The Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Law at Keio University has a curriculum in place that allows students to explore the discipline of political science comprehensively and professionally over four years. There are likely no other universities that offer more than 80 subjects across five fields: (1) Political Thought, (2) Political Theory and Political Sociology, (3) Japanese Politics, (4) Area Studies and Comparative Politics, and (5) International Politics. In addition, various small-group classes such as seminars, special research, and research groups (kenkyukai) are established. This is because we believe that discussions with faculty and peers based on the spirit of "learning while teaching, teaching while learning" are essential for mastering the discipline of political science, where there are no easy answers.

I would like to ask two things of the first-year students who have entered the Department of Political Science. One is to follow your curiosity and take a broad interest across time, space, and fields. Politics exists everywhere that power reaches. Please engage seriously with the fields you love—not only social sciences, but also natural sciences, medicine, literature, art, sports, and more. Those efforts will surely connect with the perspectives you cultivate in the Department of Political Science and bear fruit as ideas that enrich society. I believe the saying "the higher the mountain, the broader its base" truly captures this reality.

The other is to pay attention to the power relations behind all information sources. Not only internet information, but also major media and even "political science" textbooks are all products of the power structures of their time. The answers provided by generative AI are even more biased by certain power structures. I want you to develop the habit of thinking independently and perceiving the objects of your observation based on the power relations behind every discourse, rather than taking information at face value.