Politics is a hotbed of controversy that either people openly talk about or don't talk about at all due to fear of being attacked for their lack of knowledge. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it affects everyone greatly. However, there is an easy hack to understand a country's current political climate. Just look at what its Overton window contains.
The Overton window is a political concept that talks about the acceptable range of policies politicians can encourage, debate, and implement in a country. It’s influenced by several factors, including societal norms, values, and institutions. For example, if we were to talk about healthcare, there are multiple ways of seeing it. One extreme idea would be to give full freedom to private healthcare initiatives without public healthcare institutions. The other extreme would be to have only government-mandated healthcare centres and research institutions and have no private initiatives in this regard. Both of these fall into the range of unthinkable or radical ideas and are thus out of the Overton window. However, ideas like having a space for the private sector (aster DM) and public sector (AIIMS) fall within the Overton window and are acceptable to society. Thus, only similar ideas can be implemented. There are two tactics that politicians use to move this window of discourse–the foot-in-the-door technique (where a smaller, acceptable request leads to a larger request) and pushing for directly unthinkable policies. When a politician does the latter, it makes radical ideas seem more acceptable. The Overton window is a range that determines what is acceptable in society and what is not. If we try to do things beyond the range of acceptability, it causes protests and chaos as it disturbs people's understanding of order. Thus, the window dictates what order is in society, which is dependent on what is acceptable to the people.
The very reason that the window was made was so that politicians work per the Overton window and do not move the window at their convenience. Joseph Lehman, the concept developer, noted this in an interview. Thus, it now falls on our shoulders to ensure that we notice such trends in the political playground and that irrational ideas do not become the new normal. A more educated society can take better decisions, and understanding the Overton window can help you make better electoral decisions. After all, knowledge is power.
References:
1. Maza, C. (2017, December 21). How Trump makes extreme things look normal. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2017/12/21/16806676/strikethrough-how-trump-overton-window-extreme-normal
2. The Overton Window – Mackinac Center. (n.d.). Mackinac Center. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow
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