One Concept Slavoj Zizek Missed

I finally had the opportunity to listen to the youtube video and consume the information. I agree with many of Zizek's assertions and his reasoning is quite sound. I do think that the large catastrophic issues that we face as a species must be dealt with in the next century. It is merely not a question of whether or not we should address them; we are being forced and compelled to address them because they are unavoidable. No longer may we simply ignore all of these pressing issues.
One "hole" in the capitalist ideology stands out in my opinion. Zizek, I believe, would agree with me. There are two fundamental assumptions that are essential to the capitalist economic system's functioning and our understanding of the way that markets operate:

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

I left two comments in response to Prof. Cocozzelli's post of the Riz Khan interview. In my comments I introduced my belief in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development.

The following is a short video from youtube about the benefits of these ideas.

The Questions I pose for discussion are:

Are these idea's realistically employable?

Can a change in corporate behavior change the values of society?

Can a change in corporate behavior help government and society "save the environment"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdkYieDuVvY

Riz Khan - Are we living in the end times?

This is an interview with the philosopher and social critic Slavoj Zizek. It's kind of a fun discussion, and pretty perceptive at times.

PUBLIC POLICY - THE ISSUE OF IMPLEMENTATION

What is public policy?

"Policy," of course, is a term with a rich variety of definitions and nuanced elaborations. We continue with the Laswell and Kaplan (1950: 71) usage, where policy is a "projected program of goal values and practices," because this formulation includes both the initial aims and supplementary procedures. Public policies are thus rules for action which directly or indirectly affect the whole population of a country and which usually are established by statutory authorities. As the comparative study of subnational program implementation has demonstrated, public policies are continuously reinterpreted and modified, simplified, and/or restricted at successive levels of government (Altenstetter and Bj6rkman, 1978). New rules for actions may supersede or coexist with old be- havioral parameters; new goals may emerge from a change in value perspectives. In addition, changes in public policy at one level of government influence per- formance at other levels.

Iranian Revolution and the Battle of Ideals

I have spent a large portion of the month of October on gathering, reading, and analyzing scholarly articles on the Iranian Revolution of 1979. I have finally developed a thesis for the paper and I now feel much more comfortable when I write. I have decided to first analyze the many different socioeconomic groups that were active participants in the Iranian revolution. My thesis asserts that the revolution itself was a revolution to abolish the institution of the monarchy. However, as the revolution progressed some of the most active participants and most enthusiastic revolutionaries, the bazaaris, were forced to organize in and around mosques for security reasons. Of course, other groups like the industrial working class and white-collar state employees also mobilized but did not seek shelter in the mosques like the merchant classes. Instead, revolutionary leaders like Khomeini sought to rhetorically attack the state as both employer and repressive institution. Much of the revolutionary upsurge that came from merchant and industrial working classes was a result of the shah's economic policies that ravaged the Iranian economy in the late '70s. These groups did not demand the establishment of an Islamic republic, but an end to the economic policies that had led to economic depression and the state's repressive implementation of policy.

New, (and hopefully last) directional change

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do a paper on Venezuela. I originally started out attempting to prove change through advancing democracy and participatory institutions but I found this hard to research. Furthermore after having broken it down into the political, economic, and social spheres and looking back at my sources I realized I was pretty much rewriting one of my sources that I had been citing heavily, OOPS!

Brubaker [ch. 2/3/5]

In ch. 2 of Brubaker's "Nationalism Reframed", he discusses the structure of Soviet Russia through an institutionalist perspective. He does this namely through analyzing how "nationhood and nationality" were institutionalized via territorial/political means along with ethnocultural/personal maneuvers. From the onset, one can easily see a common trait among most if not all Communist/Dictatorial regimes - namely gathering a large number of people around a common identity - in this case, Soviets, speaking the Russian language. Without this common identity, it is near if not definitely impossible to unite people under a single rule of law.

Brubaker attributes Soviet Russia's downfall to inherent issues such as a displacement of ethnic groups throughout the entire Soviet empire - Russian and non-Russian alike. Also in part, Soviet Russia had a constitution that provided for a representative government from the various ethnic groups represented within its empire. As democratic as this might appear, the Communist regime (more often than not) ended up having the final say. As such, the elected representatives of these ethnic groups became the figureheads for individual ethnic secessions from the Soviet empire.

Review of "Origins and Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" by Ann M. Lesch and Dan Tschirgi

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "Origins and Development of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" by Ann M. Lesch and Dan Tschirgi. This book, one of a series of historical examinations, covers the reasons the Arab-Israeli Conflict began and kept escalating. It contains a variety of essays and historical discussions from several well-respected historians and experts. In fact, a panel of expert advisors oversees production of each book in the series to ensure quality and objectivity.
Throughout this book, the editors and authors attempt to get at the root of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, discuss internal and external factors in the conflict, and some ideological and realistic differences between the two opponents. This book presents an historical overview of events that all combined to lead up to the conflict. These events actually began centuries ago when Muslim Arabs moved into the area and created powerful empires that soon began to rule the Middle East and other areas of the world. It also shows how Europe entered the picture in the 18th century and indicates a gradual decline in the power of the Arab empires. The authors maintain that European intervention provoked the Muslim world in the late 1700s, and they have established a long-standing tradition of fighting to hold on to their land and their way of life. This has led to almost steady conflict in the region throughout modern history. The authors also establish why events of the Middle East have dominated world news for over 50 years. Truly, the conflict began eons ago, but escalated after World War II when Israel was created out of Palestinian territory. Some people call this entire disagreement over land and who belongs where the Middle East Conflict. No matter what it is called, it is clearly a contentious issue that has created a new world order of sorts.

Brubaker Chapters 2,3 5

Brubaker discusses how nationalism has been both the cause and effect of the great reorganization of political boundaries in Europe and how in less than a hundred years the changes that took place in such continent almost gave nationalism a new definition. In the introduction, Brubaker gives the reader some background information regarding the “Single European Act” proposed in 1992, where Europe wanted to dissolve national frontiers within and create some sort of a super nation where citizens and goods would be able to move freely. Although the project didn’t work, in a way it served as a possible blueprint for a similar national movement. Brubaker argues that “…nationalism should be understood without invoking nations as substantial entities… we should focus on nationhood and nationness, on “nation” as a practical category…” (Brubaker, Pg 7, 1996).
Chapter two uses the Soviet Union and its successor state as a unique example where Brubaker argues that nationhood and nationality and even ethno cultural nationality played an important role in the Russian society. The Soviet regime transmitted a set of expectations where members from different races and cultural groups were expected to feel a sense of belonging even though many people living under the Soviet government were not citizens or even ethnically Russians. Brubaker argues that those factors will probably cause an “explosive” ethno national conflict. Chapter three and five creates a link between the Soviet Union and post-communist Europe how small newly created nations and ethnic groups try to find their way and create a new national homeland. Brubaker also compares and contrast Weimar Germany and post Soviet Russian and how the loss of territory, weak democratic political structure and economy affected deeply ethnic groups and the nations surrounding both countries.

Review of "A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East"

One book I have been reading is titled A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East and written by Lawrence Freedman. The entire book is not about Iran or subjects concerning Iran. However, chapter 4 is titled "Revolution in Iran" and that is the chapter I have focused on thus far. My paper will attempt to analyze the Iranian Islamic Revolution and how clerics managed to seize power through revolutionary upheaval. The subsequent fusion of Iranian state law with Muslim Sharia law in the aftermath of the revolution will also be analyzed. The chapter offers one exampl of analysis concerning the revolution and Khoemeini’s role in securing clerical dominance during the post-revolutionary period.