i am coming to the end of the module now.
one more week of study planner, one final tma to write, one online quiz and the exam.
I have been looking very closely at fukuyama's concept of the end of history, that we are in a stable neo-liberal stasis, that no further events will be extreme because we have liberally stabilised. I am not sure I agree with that, especially as that principle seems to condemn the poor nations to remain behind forever.
Well now to stop procrastinating and polish off the final week of study and get the TMA 5 done.
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I'm sure he's right. Just as the Romans knew that they had conquered the known world and the Roman Empire's pax Romana must inevitably stand for all time.
And the Victorians who believed they were approaching the end of science, that all that could be known was almost all known.
And I'm quite sure our running out of minerals to extract, overpopulating the planet, having insufficient water, religious extremism and an incredibly over-inflated global economy won't have any effect on the future.
Alternatively, Fukuyama is a knob-head. And, since I see he's an economist, yep, he's a knob-head.
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I agree with you Simon. I think the next wars will be over resources. Water wars.
All sounds very mad max though...
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Hi again Simon. Yes resource wars may well be a threat in the future. As you point out, the liberal democracies export debt at a terrific rate.
The question of water is an interesting one, i plan to do a blog about it next week. If we consider fresh water as a common resource, so giving it the aspect of Hardin's tragedy of the commons, then to preserve a common resource we have to consider exclusion and private ownership as presevation options. This put into the UNHRC context (point 4-access to water is a basic human right) means we could see wars fought over water rights.
Perhaps i am being too bleak in my outlook.
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It has the potential to be bleak, based on past events, but its nature as an essential resource for life seems to make it a catalyst for co-operation rather than just conflict.
For example (link):
IWMI’s research is challenging the conventional wisdom that conflict over water leads to war. Over the past 25 years, politicians, academics and journalists have frequently predicted that disputes over water would be a cause for future wars. The water wars hypothesis has its roots in earlier research carried out on a small number of transboundary rivers such as the Indus, Jordan and the Nile. These particular rivers were a focus because they had experienced water-related disputes. Specific events cited as evidence include Israel’s bombing of Syria’s attempts to divert the Jordan’s headwater, and military threats by Egypt against any country building dams in the upstream water of the Nile. However, while some links made between conflict and water were valid, they did not necessarily represent the norm.
Sadly, non-violent solutions to international conflict don't make the news, thereby giving the impression war is inevitable. There's an awful lot of people out there finding amicable and fair solutions to difficult problems, we just don't hear about them. Which means they also don't get much support and their techniques are difficult to propagate.
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Thank you Simon. Those are interesting links. I will have a look through them.