Good article and reasonable recommendations, though beet of luck with seeing any of it. (Anroinetta III points out correctly that external enemies are often easier to deal with than internal problems) During the period of soviet collapse i made the same point as the Yzetta Smith, arguing thatbthe failure of communism was in its faulty model of human nature, and its failure to recognize how intrinsic greed and selfishness were amongst other self focused traits. But the dominant perspective in american establishment thinking (political, business, etc) take an opposite and equally faulty view of human beings as creatures driven entirely by these selfish traits, even when we find many examples of self sacrifice in group interest, even amongst other social animals. Consequently, if we have a failed model here as well, then it isnt unreasonable for systems built on this to fail as well. The difference i said back then is that while the soviet collapse was catastrophic, this one may be insidious. Sort of like an ebola patient, and a slow but terminal and infectious illness patient standing together at a bus stop. The ebola patient begins spouting blood from everywhere, and everyone including the superficially healthy but terminal patient jump back. But even patient B is doomed as well and poses perhaps an even greater threat.
A couple of corrections. Sirlieaf in Liberia is Ellen, not Allan, and ECOWAS was formed in 1975, for trade etc. it is ECOMOG, the military monitoring (and now intervention) group that was formed around 1981 in response to the Liberan crisis. Finally, the ICC has growing credibility problems in Africa over perceptions of selective enforcement. Perhaps control of the process over Africans by Africans as suggested could be a useful fix, but this too can be tricky.
Good article and reasonable recommendations, though beet of luck with seeing any of it. (Anroinetta III points out correctly that external enemies are often easier to deal with than internal problems) During the period of soviet collapse i made the same point as the Yzetta Smith, arguing thatbthe failure of communism was in its faulty model of human nature, and its failure to recognize how intrinsic greed and selfishness were amongst other self focused traits. But the dominant perspective in american establishment thinking (political, business, etc) take an opposite and equally faulty view of human beings as creatures driven entirely by these selfish traits, even when we find many examples of self sacrifice in group interest, even amongst other social animals. Consequently, if we have a failed model here as well, then it isnt unreasonable for systems built on this to fail as well. The difference i said back then is that while the soviet collapse was catastrophic, this one may be insidious. Sort of like an ebola patient, and a slow but terminal and infectious illness patient standing together at a bus stop. The ebola patient begins spouting blood from everywhere, and everyone including the superficially healthy but terminal patient jump back. But even patient B is doomed as well and poses perhaps an even greater threat.
A couple of corrections. Sirlieaf in Liberia is Ellen, not Allan, and ECOWAS was formed in 1975, for trade etc. it is ECOMOG, the military monitoring (and now intervention) group that was formed around 1981 in response to the Liberan crisis. Finally, the ICC has growing credibility problems in Africa over perceptions of selective enforcement. Perhaps control of the process over Africans by Africans as suggested could be a useful fix, but this too can be tricky.