"i came to visit you!" - u came for the books.
haha.. with all the ridiculous things i've done in my life.. i think befriending Erlend is probably on the top. It's been 3 years almost four. Isn't that amazing? Time goes by so fast. outrageously fast in its constant tempo. I gave him a call tonight just to keep in touch.. and boy oh boy.. every norwegian/swede i've been in contact with in the past two days just goes on and on about their embassy being burnt! haha. I love my friends.. yet no.. they are so... odd. The scandinavians aren't use to this type of publicity or aggression. They become confused, and overly agitated. But i guess i would be pretty pissed off if i were them. "they're only proving they're crazy" tsk tsk. I don't know why this whole thing isn't too exciting for me, i should be infuriated, for my love of scandinavia should have kicked up the adrenline at least a few knotches with news like this. but i'm taking this in stride. it will surely pass... maybe somehow it can be mustered out as an act of war - that would be fun. Poor Syria.. why pick on the most pacifist countries the world? if you wanted to prove your militant self, pick on a trigger happy america. Woo woo.. the danish embassy burns in Beirut now.. this is spreading like an SoCal wildfire. Lovely. I love how scandinavia have worked for years for peace in the Middle East i.e Oslo Accords.. yet a couple of happy cartoonist and stubburn news editors have triggered the most docile Nordics into the target of hate. Splendid.
Actually the current events have been helping me with political theory. How far do liberties strech? Freedom of speech? but what if it hurts others? Respect of relgion? Relgious toleration? and then expand these options on an international scale. papers in Denmark pissing off people in Syria and Lebanon that's globalization for you. Universality of liberalism?
One of the really interesting topics i've been trying to get a better footing in has been the idea of fitting liberalism into states.. ie. post independence africa and democracy. WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? Is Uganda democratic because it holds elections? Yet the same person and party stays in power? Does democracy have to mean a multi party system? Does it have to mean the change of power? how bout the soical democrats of sweden? they were in power for what 40 years? Is sweden not a democracy? Or how bout places that do change power, i.e. different political parties get elected, but they get elected/changed not because of policy issues. It's just i don't like that leader, or that leader promises soomething better. Is democracy about who get's to hold power? or is it about the public interests in policy? Or even better is it about participation? about empowerment? How bout Tammany Hall? Remember that in American history? when you would effectively "sell" votes. And whatever democracy's definition turns out to be, or at least the one the West turns out to support.. can it just be recreated in Africa? does Democracy need pre-conditions to flourish (Lipset)? If so.. does africa have any of those (answer mainly being no) and if not.. is the first thing then to set up a strong civil society? pretty much this leads to the reworking of the whole society. Can african forms of "civil" society be used? Are African traditions just not democratic? African political culture just so different? (which it is in most cases- polical power is to be owned by one, not shared - which kind of defeats the whole rule by the people thing) And really turn to this.. why is democracy in Africa pushed so much? Because of what democracy leads to? What does it lead to? "development??" Why doesn't the US strongly push democracy in China then? Because it has some "real" power on the int'l stage (damn, we knew not to give them a P5 seat).
You can say.. well democracy might not be perfect or fitting for africa, but it's the best we've got.. and they "deserve" it. Well. yes they do "deserve" democracy e.g. liberty but... is this the way to do it? How about traditional african ways of "state". Plus, most of the problems now can be blamed on the whole colonial set up i.e. border, language, ethnic conflict, resource scarcity, and even the patrimonial system and clientelism. Though, in no form am i saying yes, go back to pre-colonial times. That's unrrealistic and quite idealistic, nor were pre-colonial times much better. But human rights, democracy, it seems to be such a sham. it's denial. You do this, and we'll give you aid. OK, we'll have elections, now give me that loan (structural adjustment programs and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers). The aid mentality. oie "you have to make people democratic" FORCE democracy. That's the way we go about it. That's gonna root it in! (sarcasm) That's going to produce the results we want! (sarcasm again)
Oie what is there to do? Maybe liberalism is "universal" politics but not in culture. People were really excited, well when i say people, i mean some old people in red bricks, when the cold war ended and all of a sudden the "second" wave came. 40 some countries over night became "democratic". That's got to cause problems.
Africanist questions on democracy.
1. internal or external forces What was the motivation?
2. premanment? or temporary fad?
3. any actual outcomes? what does democracy bring? consequences?
Democracy here is just one of the "liberal" projects. There will be/are more for me to talk about - but this is the easy one.
I LOVE TOM YOUNG. I remember how i once talked to this guy.. he was doing his PhD (he was also Monica's brother's ta). But yea, he was talking to me about college, and how the most important thing was to find out what the professors are like. Why i asked? of course, yes teaching.. but you don't understand HOW IMPORTANT it really is. My teachers are all Marxists or at least anti-liberal in some form or other. And im fond of Marxism(in its primary form) *which isn't communist! Marx was a critic of capitalism not a "communist" theorist. that's why Das Kapital was about 3 volumes and the Communist Manifesto only what 150 pages? Nor do i think Marx was a totally perfect critic of capitalism anyhow atleast applied to politics now. He was good in describing capitalism in 19th century Europe - when class was a big thing. but i don't believe class is everything now in our "ethnically diverse and gobalized world" But yea, i'm straying from the topic. YOUR PROFESSORS INFLUENCE YOU.
e.g.
The LIBERAL PROJECT - coined by TOM YOUNG - is now like my thing! I'll explain what it means another day. Need something to keep you guys reading.
To the freaks who actually read that whole democracy rant. I apologize.
Actually the current events have been helping me with political theory. How far do liberties strech? Freedom of speech? but what if it hurts others? Respect of relgion? Relgious toleration? and then expand these options on an international scale. papers in Denmark pissing off people in Syria and Lebanon that's globalization for you. Universality of liberalism?
One of the really interesting topics i've been trying to get a better footing in has been the idea of fitting liberalism into states.. ie. post independence africa and democracy. WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? Is Uganda democratic because it holds elections? Yet the same person and party stays in power? Does democracy have to mean a multi party system? Does it have to mean the change of power? how bout the soical democrats of sweden? they were in power for what 40 years? Is sweden not a democracy? Or how bout places that do change power, i.e. different political parties get elected, but they get elected/changed not because of policy issues. It's just i don't like that leader, or that leader promises soomething better. Is democracy about who get's to hold power? or is it about the public interests in policy? Or even better is it about participation? about empowerment? How bout Tammany Hall? Remember that in American history? when you would effectively "sell" votes. And whatever democracy's definition turns out to be, or at least the one the West turns out to support.. can it just be recreated in Africa? does Democracy need pre-conditions to flourish (Lipset)? If so.. does africa have any of those (answer mainly being no) and if not.. is the first thing then to set up a strong civil society? pretty much this leads to the reworking of the whole society. Can african forms of "civil" society be used? Are African traditions just not democratic? African political culture just so different? (which it is in most cases- polical power is to be owned by one, not shared - which kind of defeats the whole rule by the people thing) And really turn to this.. why is democracy in Africa pushed so much? Because of what democracy leads to? What does it lead to? "development??" Why doesn't the US strongly push democracy in China then? Because it has some "real" power on the int'l stage (damn, we knew not to give them a P5 seat).
You can say.. well democracy might not be perfect or fitting for africa, but it's the best we've got.. and they "deserve" it. Well. yes they do "deserve" democracy e.g. liberty but... is this the way to do it? How about traditional african ways of "state". Plus, most of the problems now can be blamed on the whole colonial set up i.e. border, language, ethnic conflict, resource scarcity, and even the patrimonial system and clientelism. Though, in no form am i saying yes, go back to pre-colonial times. That's unrrealistic and quite idealistic, nor were pre-colonial times much better. But human rights, democracy, it seems to be such a sham. it's denial. You do this, and we'll give you aid. OK, we'll have elections, now give me that loan (structural adjustment programs and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers). The aid mentality. oie "you have to make people democratic" FORCE democracy. That's the way we go about it. That's gonna root it in! (sarcasm) That's going to produce the results we want! (sarcasm again)
Oie what is there to do? Maybe liberalism is "universal" politics but not in culture. People were really excited, well when i say people, i mean some old people in red bricks, when the cold war ended and all of a sudden the "second" wave came. 40 some countries over night became "democratic". That's got to cause problems.
Africanist questions on democracy.
1. internal or external forces What was the motivation?
2. premanment? or temporary fad?
3. any actual outcomes? what does democracy bring? consequences?
Democracy here is just one of the "liberal" projects. There will be/are more for me to talk about - but this is the easy one.
I LOVE TOM YOUNG. I remember how i once talked to this guy.. he was doing his PhD (he was also Monica's brother's ta). But yea, he was talking to me about college, and how the most important thing was to find out what the professors are like. Why i asked? of course, yes teaching.. but you don't understand HOW IMPORTANT it really is. My teachers are all Marxists or at least anti-liberal in some form or other. And im fond of Marxism(in its primary form) *which isn't communist! Marx was a critic of capitalism not a "communist" theorist. that's why Das Kapital was about 3 volumes and the Communist Manifesto only what 150 pages? Nor do i think Marx was a totally perfect critic of capitalism anyhow atleast applied to politics now. He was good in describing capitalism in 19th century Europe - when class was a big thing. but i don't believe class is everything now in our "ethnically diverse and gobalized world" But yea, i'm straying from the topic. YOUR PROFESSORS INFLUENCE YOU.
e.g.
The LIBERAL PROJECT - coined by TOM YOUNG - is now like my thing! I'll explain what it means another day. Need something to keep you guys reading.
To the freaks who actually read that whole democracy rant. I apologize.