Politics Between Realism and Determinism Capt Mohamed Hassan Al-Tahir 

Politics is a complex field where philosophical thought intersects with practical practice, pulled by multiple currents between:

– Realism, imposed by objective circumstances,

– Determinism, which portrays events as an unavoidable fate.

Studying the relationship between realism and determinism in politics provides a deeper understanding of how decisions and policies are shaped, while also revealing the limits of human will in confronting the paths of history.

The Film Year Zero

It represents an artistic model that can be employed in political analysis, reflecting the dialectic between ideals and reality at a moment of radical change.

Ideals:

– Embodied in revolutionary aspirations to build a new world free of past mistakes.

Reality:

– Appears in structural constraints and power struggles that limit the possibility of achieving ideals.

The Deterministic Dimension:

– Emerges in the way historical trajectories often impose themselves on political actors, making change governed by necessities that cannot easily be overcome. This renders the relationship between determinism and realism problematic, manifesting in the conflict between concept and method.

– Determinism: A philosophical concept that sees events and decisions as governed by a chain of causes and circumstances, occurring only as they did.

– Realism: A political method based on a precise reading of reality as it is, away from ideals or illusions.

The connection lies in the fact that political realism translates historical determinism into practical policies.

The realist politician recognizes that:

– Human will operates within a framework of necessities,

– The space for choice is limited by the boundaries of reality.

Between Dogma and Pragmatism

Sudanese politics represents a prominent applied case of the dialectic between determinism and realism, where:

– Dogma appeared in the insistence of some forces on rigid ideological rhetoric, as if it were an unchangeable fate, making them captives of determinism in its negative sense—submission to a single path without flexibility.

– Pragmatism emerged in the attempts of other forces to deal with reality flexibly, seeking middle-ground solutions even if they strayed from ideals.

This pragmatism is the practical face of realism, acknowledging historical and social constraints while attempting to harness them for possible change.

Conclusion

The dialectic of realism and determinism in politics reveals the constant tension between human will and historical necessities.

The film Year Zero shows that every political project begins with an ideal dream, but soon collides with a complex reality that imposes specific trajectories.

In Sudan, as in other experiences, the greatest challenge remains moving beyond dogma toward conscious pragmatism—one that recognizes the limits of determinism but does not surrender to it, instead striving to open new spaces for possible change.

In the end, the question remains: Does politics operate through determinisms, or does it oscillate between fossilized dogmatism and opportunistic pragmatism… New line.