Mathematical politics

Mathematical Politics, is the body of knowledge centered on non-mathematical concepts such as perceived efficacy, political capability, chance economic opportunity (and, therefore, idiotic political and governmental allocation of funding) to determine whether or not a given individual or set of individuals are worthy of superior funding to others. Non-standardised and profoundly unequal distributions of individual funding and opportunity within educational establishments provide the basis upon which mathematical politics is allowed to proceed unfettered.

Characteristics of Mathematical Politics
Certain characteristics of the mathematically politicised educational establishment (if not national curriculum) include the following :

# The lack of lectured (as in, lecture note provided) examinable courses and test situations within which individuals are required to publicly or objectively display their mathematical capabilities. A distinct lack of open and accountable set of idealised examination standards (which allow for a full and honest disclosure and viewing of all submitted test solutions and allocated marks) is one sign of mathematical politics at play. The lack of standardly administered tests of mathematical ability at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level within either the US or the UK would provide large instances showing the potential for abuse and mathematical politics.
# Lead lecturers and Heads of Departments with their names on all papers. This is yet another example of Mathematical Politics having gone quite mad - lecturers and Heads of Department who cannot and do not display knowledge of the material publications to which their names are attached are sure signs of a mathematically politicised environment.
# Old Mathematicians who are unwilling (and, to an extent, unable) to display the levels of mathematical expertise and ability expected of either Professors or Heads of Departments are to be expected in overly Mathematically Politicised Environments.
# A lack of examined and assessed course and grade progress sheets (with, if necessary, procedurally anonymised comments from supervisors and supervisees) is a sure sign of a set of circumstances within which Standardised Mathematical Practice has not been followed.

Other examples and indications of Mathematical Politics

Mathematical Politics can often lead to gross outcomes for those too busy doing mathematics. Some examples include being denied the opportunity to take up PhD positions, unreasonable expectations on the parts of supervisors in regards to what students can and should do as part of their PhD work, leading to a termination of mathematical tenure for this reason. Other problems that are associated with mathematical politics often arise when only one department (or a small set of departments) are the only ones that focus on a particular topic or subject matter. Such situations often given rise to a peer-review process in which the reviewers know the mathematician who has created a particular paper or thesis.

Controversy

Historically, political decision making has played a significant part within mathematical research (particularly when attempting to decide whether to choose a particular route or method of proof for a problems, as well as attempting to choose a particular mathematical philosophy or mode of teaching when thinking about mathematics). However, most mathematical positions of thought agree that standardised (and hopefully accredited) methods of examination provide the best way in which to determine a students abilities (and are, therefore, the basis upon which important decisions, such as funding decisions and grade allocations are made).

Conclusion

Mathematical politics is still a hotly debated aspect concerning how it is that mathematicians relate to each other's academic work, and how they verify the truth, falsity, and value of the works produced by one another.

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