Blogpost 2: Harry Potter and the World of Politics

It is apparent how the Harry Potter series have successfully captured its readers' hearts. Be it a child or its adult counterpart, it shows how easy it is to get lost in the words on the pages. Harry Potter is, in a word, a spellbinding story of a young wizard's struggles in fighting evil. It's pretty simple, the same old 'good vs. evil' scheme and yet, people of all ages get addicted to it. Readers feel attached to Harry Potter, having "grown up" with him. The story evolves with time, with the first three books seemingly 'childish' as compared to the other remaining four. It is in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire book, the fourth installment of the series, that the story started to progress, becoming darker and more matured. It started to deal with murder of innocent people, the resurrection of the most evil wizard, and, not surprisingly, the corrupt government.

Ministry of Magic logo

In Harry Potter, the Ministry of Magic is the equivalent of a government in the Wizarding world. Just like any other government, the Ministry of Magic is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of laws in the magical community. The Ministry is comprised of seven departments, each dealing with different aspects but has one common goal — to keep the magical community hidden from the non-magical population of Muggles. In the books, the Ministry of Magic is depicted as unreliable and meddlesome.

This is further discussed in The Politics Behind The Wand by Joseph Letts. The article mainly talks about the British Ministry of Magic in the Harry Potter books. Letts first went over different characters of the Ministry employees and how the Ministry was portrayed in the books. It also tackled the various scandals like poor security, conviction of a person without proper trial and accepting bribery from affluent families among others, that almost toppled the wizarding government. Lastly, Letts enumerated the past appointed Ministers and their ways of leading the magical community.

It is somewhat reassuring or alarming to see that whether in fiction or the real world, we can still be confident that some things stay the same.

The alarming spread of corruption not just in our country but in others as well is an issue that affects all of us. We elect these so-called public servants to lead and represent us, only to be disappointed to find out that the same public servants are wasting the trust we put in them. And for what? Money and power. To me, they are one and the same, for having money gives you power that you'll never have if you're penniless. Reading the Harry Potter books taught me a lesson that there will always be a corrupt person in the government no matter how much they make it seem like the opposite. We don't know what went on behind closed doors or under those tables. We, the taxpayers, are blissfully ignorant of how our supposed money were being spent by these power-hungry public servants for their pleasure and personal gain. It's infuriating how they manipulate us and then fed us lies that 'all is well' when in reality people are being murdered left and right.

Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge: "All is Well"

Samantha Love very much talked the same in her article entitled The Politics of Harry Potter: Corrupt Law and Totalitarian Government. Love emphasized the Ministry of Magic's corrupt ways of governing the magical world. Love pointed out how the Ministry controls the Daily Prophet (the newspaper in the wizarding community), therefore hindering the freedom of speech of the wizards; the Ministry's lack of transparency and accountability; the inconsistent justice system and prejudicial views on non-human magical creatures like giants, goblins, house elves and werewolves.

Perhaps the thing we can best learn from Harry’s world is that State power has to be strong enough to enforce the law without being so strong that we have reason to fear the State – in fiction and in reality.  

I'd say the famous Spiderman quote "With great power comes great responsibility" aptly applies to this. Giving an individual the absolute power would, in one way or another, tempt him to abuse it and therefore, turn corrupt. Boundaries should definitely be set in order to avoid this, but as far as boundaries go, they are implemented, evidenced by the three sectors of the government (executive, legislative and judicial). But with these measures in place, abuse of authority is still apparent. Why is that? I think that it is not the power that corrupts these individuals, but fear of losing such power that does it. After experiencing the merits of having so much control, it makes a person drunk with power, thus, would not want to lose that power. This attitude pushes that person to do things like abusing his authority or committing fraud, anything just to preserve that power for himself. Just like in Harry Potter books, the Minister mentioned that laws could be changed if necessary, only because he will benefit from it by discrediting Harry himself. It just shows that be it in fiction or in reality, power is extremely dangerous and that it should not be given to one person longer than necessary.