martes, 23 de febrero de 2010

to be continued- initial thought:
the mistake of Ayn Rand and to a lesser extent milton friedman is that ability honesty and non discrimination pays. however, doesn't starting ahead five spaces on a game board help you win? why wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that people would act in their interests to keep their privilege or advantage. corruption pays.

jueves, 11 de febrero de 2010

I think Fukuyama had an interesting point about the “radius of trust” which seems to me it can be fostered and destroyed in any community or group, and some of these ties do not translate into trust of others, or may be trust within destructive groups.

I think this applies not only to developing countries but to poor communities within the richer countries as well. I’ve heard argued convincingly that in impoverished areas individualism can be detrimental. A community that already is impoverished will have fewer opportunities, and more obstacles. The success of the group is integral to the success of the individual – as one person cannot magically obtain affordable healthcare if the program does not exist. I don’t believe this takes away emphasis away from individual agency, but rather that an individual is situated within a community, and their successes are integrated. A strong sense of community can positively impact the quality of lives of people. In developing countries practically no safety nets exist for large segments of society, and communities / groups must fill that role. Although it seems that even in areas with strong social cohesion, violence can tear this down. Dictatorships seem to specialize in using terror with the exact intent to sow fear and distrust – which then hinders shared quality of life development.
As a problem this poses to development aid, perhaps this should be taken into account to NGO’s or other international organizations just as much as developing the ‘right program’ is.

Dependency theory vs. culture vs. geography:
I think neither theory can claim a monopoly on explaining economic development. As we discussed in class week, the importance of human agency plays a large role as well as strong leaders. Many factors influence the course a country is taking, and the extent to which each factor plays a role is more important than privileging one over the other. For example, massive foreign intervention has had a far more destabilizing effect in Guatemala than Peru. Rather than claim that foreign aid to dictatorships or corporate ownership of half a country does not hinder economic growth, a better question is to what extent

Some of the authors, particularly Mariono Grondona would use broad generalizations to support a theory that had too many exceptions. As one of the authors Mala Htun – on gender inequality points out that there are drastic differences among Latin American countries as well as within the countries themselves. While culture is important, I think there is not enough correlation to tie values to economic performance as many of the authors would like. The book we read last week discussed the interaction between civil servants and the central government; and the complex relationships between keeping ones job, balancing ties where one works and to whom one reports to. He adds that the incentive for better work performance is strongly tied to belief that the job will allow one to move up in rank, and that the job security will not be influenced by politics. While this is also ‘work culture’ it is quite disconnected from work ethic or ones belief in the value of a hard day’s work.

jueves, 4 de febrero de 2010

atheist vs. me
who gave you morality?

one of the ten pillars of conflict resolution skills is communication. assertiveness, not aggression. non violence has nothing to do with being passive. Honest communication prevents you from holding grudges, and just keeping yourself honest with what you need in your life, and if you are giving yourself what you need.

I get to do a research project for one of my classes. have trouble narrowing it down though. Thinking about doing interviews for a restorative justice program if it exists. I wonder if it works as well for victims of vicious attacks in these types of programs or if it is mostly tailored to less violent crimes. It seems to work very well in juvenile small crime.. what about adults? vamos a ver.

got distracted by a pumpkin curry recipe. yum