AMS publishes: Becoming a Better Politician

The politician’s trade is something best learnt in practice: that is the prevailing consensus in many political parties. Of course it is true that there is no school like the school of hard knocks, but that is no reason to throw aspiring politicians to the wolves without any preparation whatsoever. Political skills can definitely be learned. The extent to which political parties invest in this, however, varies greatly. In my opinion, a party’s professionalism is directly related to the amount of attention devoted to training these skills. There is no excuse for poor preparation. The politician’s trade, like any other trade, requires constant training.

The Alfred Mozer Stichting, the international foundation for the support of social democracy, has twenty years experience in the training and schooling of political parties, youth and women groups and individual politicians. Our dedicated volunteer trainers are skilled political professionals with a broad experience in – mainly Dutch – politics.

We owe a large debt of gratitude to this pool of almost 80 AMS trainers, and in this introduction we would like to single out Berend Jan van de Boomen, the former AMS director and author of our previous manual, for special mention. He wrote a number of new chapters and we used parts of the old manual for this brand new version. We are very grateful for all the work he has put in.

This book gives parties and politicians one excuse less for performing poorly! We attempt to give as full a treatment as possible of the skills every politician should have. Unfortunately it is impossible to be complete. In addition to which, exactly which of the skills mentioned are required depends largely on the (political) context and traditions in different countries. That is why this manual offers universal ingredients for a delicious political meal – but it is up to you to decide which of these ingredients apply to

your specific situation. There is no single blueprint, every situation is unique. Moreover, we cannot rule out the possibility that there are still ingredients that we have not heard of, or methods and techniques that are not being used in the political arena yet, but will be in the near future. But we do aim to provide a book that has something to offer for everyone. Whether you are launching a multimillion dollar campaign or working with the lowest of budgets, the tips in this book will ensure that everyone stands a chance. Good luck!

Arjen Berkvens, AMS director