of age in most Western countries, and especially in the United Kingdom and
the USA, with programmes such asThat Was the Week That Was. Similarly,
satirical political periodicals like the BritishPrivate Eyeand the FrenchLe
Canard Enchaıˆne ́have long been important. The essence of satire is to
exaggerate grossly characteristics of the political targets—visually exemplified,
for example, in the British television series of the 1980s,Spitting Image, and its
numerous European counterparts, with their puppets’ distorted ears and over-
large noses.
At its simplest level satire works by making a political opponent look
ridiculous, pricking pomposity, reducing authority by encouraging laughter,
or by reminding readers or audience of a politician’s less pleasant aspects. More
deeply, satire can work by taking an argument literally, and encouraging people
to think much more clearly about the logical implications of initially acceptable
stances. Swift’s essayModest Proposal, encouraging the eating of Irish babies to
avoid famine, by extension from the territorial swallowing of Ireland by
England, is such an example. Perhaps George Orwell’sAnimal Farmis a
combination of both styles: it makes egalitarian doctrines seem ridiculous by
extending them to absurdity, and at the same time it makes the leaders of
communist societies seem less than human by the animal analogy. Satire tends
to flourish for brief periods in societies, and then fade away as the ever present
forces that encourage deference to those inauthorityre-emerge.
Scenario
A scenario is any imaginary description of a possible future problem, which
can be used by the potential actors to plan policy andstrategy. As such it is
closely related togame theory. Scenarios have been extensively used in
defence, with a large number of models of potential conflicts being set up to
enable conventional and nuclear force requirements to be calculated, and to
study the political, diplomatic and military consequences of a variety of
postures that might be adopted. At its most technical, a scenario can be the
basis for extremely complicated and even computerized simulations. An
example of a purely domestic British political scenario might be the result
of an election in which no party held a majority in parliament, and where the
previous prime minister, though now the leader of a minority party, refused to
resign. The scenario, especially if built with sufficient realistic detail, would
allow examination of the adequacy of our understanding of, for example, the
constitutional position of the monarch, and perhaps help in the development
of theories about the need for a written constitution. It is no different in
principle from a technique sometimes used by physical scientists called a
‘thought-experiment’. Increasingly university departments, under pressure
Scenario