The Political Economy society is a diverse community, with members from an array of different courses and backgrounds. They get together to focus on a crossroad of politics and economics, aiming to organise events that appeal to both aforementioned areas of interests. iMPAK interviewed Saloni Dahanukar, Vice President of King’s Political Economy Society, who told us the committee members have several ideas to organise events that attracts a larger audience from all walks of life.
“[The society] wants to hold events that everybody can come to and that everybody is interested in” - Saloni Dahanukar.
The committee members of the society.
In terms of goals, aims and purposes of the society, the society is trying to shift the previously euro-centric political focus more towards South Asian or South East Asian politics. For example, they are recruiting an indian spiritual leader to speak at an event, as well as planning a panel event of European or Asian ambassadors. In making this focal shift towards South Asian politics, they wish to factually educate people on controversial issues that are not usually addressed and eliminate biases. For example, the society held an event that discusses whether the new laws in India are pro- or anti-muslim.
Shining light on controversial topics had put the society in quite a risk, which Saloni told us “a lot of negative implications on how PE society was perceived, but [they] still did it [to a] huge success.”
“Living in this age of social media where everybody’s misinformed [...] the general public views an influencer posting their thoughts as facts, even when they are not. [The society acts] to get rid of misinformation and bias [in this sense]” she continued.
They also wish to ‘brief’ others on what they can do after their political economy degree, solidifying that education, informing people and promoting networking are included in their primary goals at least for the next six months.
Efficiency
The Political Economy Review (PER) is an online publication linked to the society, however it is not handled fully by the Political Economy society, as Nour Attalla, Head Editor of PER, is not part of the society committee.
“Autonomy completely lies in Nour’s hands, but at the end of the day we support him” said Saloni. Despite the committee having split decisions regarding ‘barriers’ of what to publish, they have quite strict requirements to ensure a top quality article.
When asked about what constitutes an achievement or successful outcome for the society, Saloni talked about the level of diversity. She states “we are a very diverse committee. Our General Secretary is from philosophy, our President is studying history, I am doing management, and JP, our Treasurer, is doing Political Economy. There are lots of times that we don’t agree but I think that just helps us build our relationship further.”
She also spoke about high turnout for events as being a measurement of success of their society, as well as being able to get high level speakers for events. One example she detailed was their event with Haroon Siddique, a senior reporter at the Guardian, which she said was ‘a personal achievement for [them]’.
Event with Senior Reporter from The Guardian, Mr. Haroon Siddique, focusing on media biases, jobs in journalism, and Brexit.
To evaluate efficiency further, we asked discussed task management and allocations. Saloni responded "[Society committee is] all from diverse departments, not everybody’s on campus everyday so sometimes we have to take on each others’ roles”, insinuating that roles are not clearly defined although a hierarchy remains. Thus, everyone works on whatever they can to put plans in motion and curate events.
Most of the society’s events, talks and articles used to be based on Indian politics. Since then, the society has notably moved to cover issues internationally such as Brexit. In regards to whether the decision to shift away from Europe was well received, Saloni said, “to be honest, that’s a tricky one. Well I know that there might have been, i’m going to be, like blunt about it, there might have been some backlash about the way our president kind of, might have handled it.”
She went on to say “[I am] 100% sure that I can vouch that that could have been executed properly, where everybody’s interests would have been protected. [...] But I think at the end of the day, everybody’s kind of fine with it.”
Furthermore, maintenance of status quo seems important in the society, as Saloni said “[We are] trying hard to maintain a certain decorum where we speak to each other and get stuff done. And I think that’s definitely helping in like, in terms of our efficiency, because before it was just all of us coming together and putting stuff out there, and agreeing and disagreeing, and we never like came to like a productive like goal at the end of the meeting. But now, we have less meetings and more one-on-one conversations.”
“I’m gonna like stretch it and say, I kind of bind our treasurer, president or our general support associates, and our treasurer together, and I’m the middle ground” said Saloni, which she believes this was the reason for increased efficiency.
“We’re trying to get everybody to understand everybody. Because before that happens, we’re not gonna be able to like do anything productive” she continued.
Panel event on environmental disasters in Brazil with the Latin American Society.
There might have been instances of ideological collisions within the society, and she hopes that in the coming future, there will be an increase in the amount of understanding and consideration between their members.
Sustainability
In order to ensure people are engaged in joining the society, Saloni said membership is free and has no strict criteria to join, which increases accessibility. They also hired two people to work on social media promotion and advertising, that has led their following on instagram to double. Furthermore, they work with different societies to increase engagement, such as having done two events jointly with the Indian society and sponsored the Winter Ball with several other societies.
Committee members of Indian Political Society and the Political Economy Society
In terms of environmental sustainability, Saloni says the society makes a point to reduce paper usage.
"(we use) e-responses to vote for best speaker [for their debate].” - Saloni Dahanukar
Transparency
Because membership for the society is free, we asked if they could be transparent with how they fund their events. Saloni told us they often have department funded events by the Department of Political Economy, and they also receive private sponsorships. Additionally, she has stated that they have plans to allocate part of their funds to the Isha Foundation—a non-profit spiritual organization founded by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. In regards to this, it is yet to become fully clear how the foundation correlates back to the society, and it’s reigning beliefs and values.
This being Saloni’s first year on the PE committee, she doesn't know how the end of the year budgeting will work - whether they share an annual budget report with the audience or the committee, or at all. Thus, she says she cannot comment definitively on the financial transparency of the society, although she says she thinks an annual budget report is shared. She stated, however, that their treasurer, JP, is clear about what he does and how he does it.
Committee members from the Winter Ball held in December with KCL PPE, Politics, Geography and Global Health society
In the realm of politics based societies, there can be some competition and disagreements between other societies that cover the same range of topics. In response to whether the PE society had any instances of clashes with other societies or disagreements, she stated “other societies that usually do have the same target audience as us, like Geography and PPE societies, are very cooperative.” She gives an example of the Geography society which has a big social media following, saying they made a note of that and spoke with the president who was happy to advertise their events for them. She further states that more than having conflicts [they] all come together when they have to achieve something and there is ‘no animosity of such really’ between them.”
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