Politics & Governance for CAT RC, in 10 essays

Democracy, law, policy and war appear in exams as arguments with two or three competing positions. These essays train you to separate who says what, and to spot when the author is quietly taking a side.

Read them in order: they go from easiest to hardest. Answer the questions under each before moving on.

1. 1The Judgment That Freed One Man and Left Slavery StandingLord Mansfield's famous ruling of 1772 is remembered as the end of slavery in England. The real holding was far smaller, and its reach far greater.Medium · 2 min
2. 2The Conviction That Fell on a Technicality and the Law That StayedA Tennessee teacher was convicted in 1925 for teaching evolution, and the conviction was undone two years later for a reason that had nothing to do with science. The law that put him in court lived on.Medium · 2 min
3. 3Why Spies Must Become NobodyA haunting essay on spies, secrecy, and identity exploring how espionage turns ordinary people into living masks.Medium · 5 min
4. 4The MELODI PhenomenonHow memes, symbolism and digital spectacle transformed modern geopolitics into a new form of folklore in the algorithmic age.Medium · 5 min
5. 5The Dead Load of Corporate HeritageAn argument that corporate heritage, like a building's “dead load,” can quietly exhaust an organisation's capacity to adapt.Medium · 5 min
6. 6The Death of Heroic WarfareHow drones transformed modern warfare by separating violence from vulnerability, reshaping heroism, ethics, and the psychology of conflict.Medium · 5 min
7. 7The Strait of Gibraltar: Where Geography Becomes PowerA narrow strait that shapes global trade, migration, and power, showing how geography quietly controls the flow of the modern world.Medium · 5 min
8. 8Can Water Become a Weapon?Water is rarely a weapon by itself. But when control over its flow creates unequal dependence, rivers can become instruments of geopolitical power.Medium · 6 min
9. 9The CEO Is Not the CompanyWhy great companies outlive great CEOs. Explore corporate governance, institutional resilience, succession planning, and the myth of indispensable leaders.Medium · 7 min
10. 10The Lottery That Was DemocracyThe Athenians who invented democracy filled most offices by lottery, and Aristotle called elections the mark of oligarchy. The word we use for our own system may belong to a different idea.Hard · 3 min

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