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Sample Personal Statement for Political Science
In my dreamscape, I used to be haunted by a magic mirror that
reflected the past, the present and the future of human society. I
asked the mirror what this represented and the mirror answered by
showing me the celebrated Oracle of Delphi of ancient Greece—Know
Thyself. I could never forget such a dream, nor could I interpret it.
It was only after I studied law and political science that I seemed to
have found the answer. As a matter of fact, the magic mirror that kept
obsessing me is jurisprudence and political science, which expunge us
of the dust on our mind’s eye, enabling us to examine ourselves as
human beings from the perspective of reason and to develop an
increasingly clear understanding of the world in which we live. In my
constant reflections on the conditions of human existence and on the
forces that have helped to determine the social order and social
structure of which I am a part, I have decided to pursue the study of
political science as my lifelong career objective. I will endeavor to
develop myself into a political thinker devoted to social programs,
who can turn my visions and conceptions into realities.
The formation of such an ideal and objective of life can be attributed
to my commitment to political science as a discipline. As is claimed
by Cicero that law is the supreme form of reason, I yearn to
experience the power of reason through the study of law and through
legal trainings. Motivated by my intense interest in the legal and
political systems of the United States and Britain, I chose to major
in International Law as I embarked on my undergraduate program at the
Law School of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).
The Law School has been designed this year by the Ministry of
Education of China as one of the two state-level key research centers
in international law. At this prestigious institution, the most
important thing I did was to acquaint myself with major classics in
law and in political thought by political and philosophical thinkers
in western history, which provided me with important materials for
contemplation and speculation.
My voluminous reading of Western classics includes The Republic by
Plato, Politics and Athenian Constitution by Aristotle, de Re Publica
and de Legibus by Cicero, The City of God by St. Augustine, On Law,
Morality and Politics by Thomas Aquina, Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, L’
homme machine by La Mettrie, Ethics Geometrically Demonstrated by
Spinoza, Essay concerning Human Understanding and Civil Government by
John Locke, On Liberty and Representative Government by J. S. Mill,
The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli, Treatise on Human Nature and Of
Civil Liberty by David Hume, Metaphysical Elements of Justice by
Immanuel Kant, On the Law of War and Peace by Hugo Grotius, Economy
and Society by Max Webber, and A Theory of Justice by John Rawls.
Reading those great masters makes me feel approaching the essence of
political science.
Learning the course History of the Western Legal System made it
possible for me to examine how law evolved through the history of
human civilization. I came to discover that, as the cornerstone of the
society, law not only incorporates the political considerations of a
nation but also is informed by profound economic backgrounds. I began
to perceive the interpenetration and the reciprocity among law,
politics, and economics despite their distinct paths of individual
development throughout history. Whenever I study the technical
literature, I always have a strong feeling that I am tracing the
forces, amidst diverse and disparate phenomena, that have governed the
development of human society. My educational backgrounds in Common
Law, Comparative Law, Comparative Constitution, International Law, and
Western Jurisprudence not only exposed me to the basic research
methodologies in Anglo-American politics and law but also created a
sound foundation for my more advanced studies in the future. My
devoted efforts to coursework rewarded me with concrete scholastic
achievements, with particularly outstanding performance in all the
specialty-related courses. My GPA is >3.7, ranking top third in the
entire Law School. My tangible rewards also include many first-class
and second-class scholarships from the School.
My immersion in western classics in the fields of politics and law,
ranging from ancient Greece and Rome to the contemporary period, has
enabled me to develop some distinctive understanding concerning the
evolution of Chinese and Western political and legal systems within
different cultural frameworks. In the historical development of human
civilization, the West was much ahead of the Oriental China in
breaking away from the Medieval Period and its aftermath to achieve
the emancipation in personal value and identity. Individualism and
emphasis on the legitimacy of human rights became the prevailing value
orientation in the civic society. The essence of “rule by law” in the
contemporary West, founded on the philosophical conception of human
nature as evil, actually lies in imposing legal checks on public
rights. By contrast, China is a country predominated by the ancient
tradition of “rule by man”, stressing human and moral factors in
societal administration based on the notion of human nature as “good”.
Unfortunately, such a notion resulted in law becoming the subsidiary
of autocracy in Chinese society, a handy instrument for the execution
of state will and state power. China’s cultural tradition and
institutional mechanism lack the idea of power control in Western
thought. In Chinese legal culture, there has never been any attempt to
equate law with justice, individual rights and social contract. Again,
in Chinese legal culture, there is hardly any extant legal legacy that
is accords with the modern spirit of “rule by law”. In a word, China
lacks the kind of legal basis that has characterized the Western
tradition. Over the past two decades, China has made encouraging
achievements in perfecting its legal system and obviously this process
requires Western input.
I would like to cite several important facts from my experience that
point to my potential in undertaking your Ph. D. program. For the
first three years of my undergraduate program, I did internships
during each summer vacation at Beijing Municipal Procuratorate and
Beijing Municipal Anti-Corruption Bureau, an experience which has
helped me gain some insights into the existing conditions of China’s
political system and judicial system. Secondly, I want to call your
attention to my English proficiency. Prior to entering university, I
won second prize in National Olympics English Contest and won the
first prize in National English Speaking and Listening Contest for
High School Students, not to mention numerous other awards at
provincial and municipal levels. In university, English is widely used
in a lot of courses, especially in case studies in which all the cases
and reference books are in English. I am the only student in my School
to have achieved straight A’s in all English courses. As a sophomore,
I worked part-time as senior translator for Beijing Zhehui Translation
Agency and I was the correspondent and broadcaster of the English
program of our university’s broadcasting station. Since August 2001, I
have also been working part-time at Beijing New Impression Times &
Culture Co., Ltd where, as project assistant, I have been responsible
for public relations and for arranging a number of cultural events
including Piano Recital by Israeli pianist Einat Fabrikant, Israeli
Duo Piano Concert by Siwen and Silver, musical play Madam Swing by
Russian Stroisky Jazz and Modern Dance Troupe, etc. On those
occasions, I demonstrated my English proficiency and my skillful
communication.
My four-year education in jurisprudence has sharpened my vision and
honed my analytical skills. However, realizing that a mere
undergraduate education can by no means endow me with the requisite
knowledge and scholarly qualities for an accomplished political
scientist, I would like to pursue a Ph.D. program that only your
esteemed university can offer. In China, genuine scholarship in
political science has been done only over the past two decades (since
1979) and this fledgling nature necessarily makes the scholarship very
immature. It is true that Chinese history does boast a number of
prominent political thinkers, but the concept of politics as evolved
over the two thousand years of Chinese feudal society differs from
that of the West in many fundamental aspects. Politics is the most
direct and powerful lever affecting a society and constitutional
government is the cornerstone of the civilized society. In the West,
the idea of constitutional government has become an unshakable and
universal value which has shaped a distinctive political culture of
constitutional government. In comparison, the politics that we have in
China is what might be designated as a political culture of party
constitutional government in which the authority of the ruling party
and the regime must be implicitly obeyed. This perverse concept has
caused the constitution to be prostituted to the will of the ruling
party and the public rights are allowed to impinge upon individual
rights willfully under various pretexts. A popular theory concerning
the relative supremacy between the party and the law is that in
legislation the party is supreme whereas in jurisdiction and in law
enforcement the law is supreme. With this logical absurdity, how can
the supreme authority of law be guaranteed? How can individual liberty
and human rights be protected and realized? An essential point is that
a nation deprived of its constitutional government is like a person
who has lost his soul.
It is encouraging to notice that major reforms are being undertaken in
China’s political and legal spheres. But such reforms are most
fruitful when guided by sound theories in political science. For this
challenging objective, the existing theories of political science in
China are apparently inadequate and those circumstances allow me to
realize that this is the right time for me to develop myself into a
leading specialist in political science. In my prospective Ph.D.
program at UC Berkley, I would like to focus on Political Theory,
Comparative Politics, Legal Philosophy, Jurisprudence and possibly
Public Law, areas that I am most interested in and in which I believe
I can accomplish the most substantial research achievements. With its
undisputable position in political science and its research-intensive
program, UC Berkley will permit me to receive the kind of education
necessary for realizing my academic objectives.
For me, political science is an academic discipline that can also
serve as my personal belief. If an academic subject can be studied and
researched both as a discipline and as a belief, it will be the
greatest joy of my life and it is all too natural for me to pursue it
as my lifelong career. My ideal is to emulate Cicero who is both a
great scholar and a great political practitioner. It will indeed be a
worthy cause if I can exert a discernible impact on the Chinese
society with the political ideas that I can develop with the help of
an advanced education in your program.
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