On Power: Research Scope, Methodology, and Teaching Political Science and Government

Yogyakarta, October 25th 2021─The Department of Governmental Politics (DPP) Fisipol UGM collaborated with the Faculty of Social and Political Science (Fisipol) UGM, and UGM Press by creating a book review webinar for the book ‘On Power’. The event was held virtually by inviting four lecturers of DPP Fisipol UGM as speakers which are Dr. Wawan Mas’udi, Dr. Evi L Sutrisno, Dr. Amalinda Savirani, and Dr. Joash Tapiheru.With 250 attendants, the event was moderated by Desi Rahmawati as a Researcher in Fisipol UGM Polgov. The webinar talked about a lot of important topics in the ‘On Power’ book starting from the research scope in governmental studies to methodologies and reaching methods used. 

To begin the first session, the webinar was opened by a remark given by Dr. Wawan Mas’uid, the Dean as well as a lecturer in DPP Fisipol UGM. He talked about the idea behind the creation of the book as a part of the ‘state of the art’ book series launched by Fisipol UGM several weeks ago. More than just a writing, the book ‘On Power’ also tries to reanalyze the development of studies and teaching in the department of governmental politics. Therefore, the book aims to give a picture about what is being done, what has been done, and what will be done in the governmental politics studies.

In the heart of the event, a material sharing session by Dr. Joash Tapiheru about the notion and third dimension of power is done. Dr. Joash talked about how methodologies in governmental politics studies have developed, one of them through the post-structuralist approach to further analyze phenomena. In line with the previous material, the second sharing session was given by Dr. Evi L Sutrisno about the classic literature regarding power. Dr. Evi said that even though progress and development are always going on, those developments never really strayed far from historical roots. Therefore, classic literature is still relevant to analyse in governmental politics studies. To complement the second material, in the third session Dr. Amalinda Savirani talked about how contemporary political issues become a part of the governmental politics studies research scope. Through this book, hopefully an understanding about the substance, methodology, and how to transfer knowledge in governmental politics studies can be paid attention to by many people from different backgrounds.