I no longer teach classes, but remain at heart an academic. I am always alert to improving the courses I have taught for more than 40 years, even though they no longer exist. Perhaps some of my active colleagues will consider the following additions to an introduction for political science. They draw on lessons still being played out nearby in the democracy aborning called Palestine.

For the section on political parties:

This is a key feature of democratic politics. Parties assemble the policy options and candidates for voters to select. Without parties, there can be only chaos, and no democracy. How to influence the selection of candidates? One way is to open the list to all comers, perhaps require petitions for each potential candidate signed by a certain number of citizens or party members, and allow the final selection of a party's candidates by a party convention or primary election.

Yet an quicker and more certain way is to assemble a group of like-minded citizens, arm them, storm the party headquarters, and demand that certain colleagues be included in the party's candidates for the legislature. Dozens of gunmen associated with President Abbas' Fatah Party took over the Ramallah office of the Palestinian election commission today to protest Abbas's choice of candidates for an upcoming parliamentary election. The chaps may still be there. By one report, Abbas must submit a final list of candidates by tomorrow. According to a senior election official, "We are very annoyed. Fatah should solve their internal differences outside our offices."

In another setting, 20 miles to the south of Ramallah in Bethlehem, 400 other colleagues held a protest outside Fatah's main office. They were also unhappy with what was shaping up as the candidate list. Some of the protesters fired their weapons in the air, while others burned tires and called on Abbas to reconsider the line-up of those standing for election.

On the other side of Palestine, in Gaza, there was a lesson for public administration.

Here the staffing of government offices is a key issue. It is conventional to announce the opening of positions for new candidates, indicate a list of required traits, offer examinations for those applying, and have senior staffers interview those who pass the initial screening.

But again there is a simpler way: Assemble a group of people who feel themselves to be qualified and in need of work, load their weapons, take over a government office, and stay there until the fellows are promised jobs.

Today's operation is a repeat of how several groups of fighters for Palestinian freedom have insisted on being hired by the security forces. It seems like a great way to recruit personnel for the police or other services requiring physical courage and skill with weapons. The candidates already have at least a minimum of training with rifles or handguns, know how to operate together, and have shown themselves brave and skilled enough to challenge the existing security forces and to put those forces in their place. What better way to select individuals to protect a society from its internal and external enemies?