LoFi Poli Sci Global Press
Standing on a soapbox screaming, and no one cares
A soapbox is a reference to days of old where people would put a wooden crate in the middle of an area, stand on it, and then speak their minds to raise the awareness of the public for one reason or another. For better or worse social media are the "soapboxes of today"
Standing on a soapbox screaming, and no one cares
Civil wars and conflicts are more common today than international wars, but both exist, as well as some on the verge of becoming one or the other. Ukraine-Russia, Azerbaijan-Armenia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda; all three cases are engaged at different levels of international warfare. Civil wars/conflicts...South Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Myanmar, and Syria are the more well-known ones, though there are a few others, simply smaller in scale.
Democracies are declining, or are they?
Freedom House has recorded a 16-year trend of declining global freedoms. Year after year, more people have been losing rights and liberties in comparison to those who have been gaining them.
Democracies are declining, or are they?
Governments are in the business of discriminating against their own people. It remains impossible for government to represent everyone, and elections do in fact choose winners and losers, and the winners get to rule the way that they want while the losers are discriminated against.
Why won't the world help Haiti?
Haiti shares an island with the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is east of Haiti and Puerto Rico is to the east of the DR. Jamica is to the west of Haiti and just south of Cuba.
Democracies are declining, or are they?
The word democracy comes from ancient Greece, but how we define democracy today does not arrive until after WWII. Civil Rights Movements, Women's Rights Movements, LGBTQ+ Movements: the fight for equality went full speed after WWII ended. Democracy being inclusive and truly representative of the entire population is very much still a work in progress, but nonetheless democracy as we know it today has only existed for less than 100-years.
Standing on a soapbox screaming, and no one cares
War, from a cost-benefit analysis, hurts everyone by slowing economic growth and limiting human prosperity and cooperation. In times of peace, the planet and human beings flourish far more than in times of war.
Standing on a soapbox screaming, and no one cares
World leaders abound condemn war. The United Nations outlaws war. Yet there are, at the very least, 8-wars mentioned taking place right now. People are fighting, people are dying, people are condemning, people are sanctioning, and yet, no one is stopping the wars.
Presidents vs. Prime Ministers; Which do you want?
we can see that both presidential and parliamentary systems can suffer from inefficiency and government gridlock.
Why won't the world help Haiti?
Haiti's president was assassinated in the summer of 2021. Furthermore, the office-terms of all elected officials of the Haitian government have expired. Haiti has no elected, democratic government. Political science categorizes a place as a country if they have defined territory, internal and external sovereignty, domestic legitimacy, and an efficient bureaucracy to carry out and implement government created public policy. The country of Haiti possesses only a defined territory, though the government does not control much of that territory, as rival gangs act as de facto-governments across the country. Thus, Haiti is a failed state.
Democracies are declining, or are they?
Has the new millennium been a bummer and a letdown? Is democracy dead? Was democracy ever really possible? In order; maybe, no, and definitely not.
History vs Political Science; What's the Difference?
History as a field of study represents the quest to know and understand the choices we as human beings made in the past. History comes from many sources. Political Science on the other hand is all about who gets what, when, and how. Political science seeks to understand the how and the why we as human beings govern ourselves in the way that we do.
History vs Political Science; What's the Difference?
History provides the story of our past and explains how we got to where we reside today. Political science analyzes key variables that explain political happenings of today, and uses this knowledge to predict outcomes for tomorrow
Why won't the world help Haiti?
In essence, the Haitian government's plea for international military intervention, if acted upon, would fully demonstrate that the government does not possess the means to control its own sovereign territory
Democracies are declining, or are they?
Is democracy in decline? The answer has to be no. The answer is no because democracy is an ideal that we reach for, though we can never truly reach it. But also, the answer is no because if what we call democracy is a constant back and forth between preferences of differing populations within a country, then by default, the losing side of elections will always claim democracy is in decline regardless of the direction the country moves.
Why won't the world help Haiti?
Jamaica, Haiti's neighbor to the west, has offered to send military and police to aid the country's government. A true bilateral offer of aid outside of the international community. But why Jamaica, and will Haiti accept?
Presidents vs. Prime Ministers; Which do you want?
One of the major overarching differences between the two is that presidents, as the high representative of the executive branch of government, are a distinctly different branch of government from the legislature. This means separate from a congress or a parliament (parliaments are legislative institutions similar to congresses). In presidential systems the executive and legislature are separate institutions and, in fact, act as a check on each other to keep government from gaining too much power. Additionally, they must work together in order to get laws passed (generally speaking). However, if a president is of a different political party than the majority in the legislature, this can cause gridlock and government inefficiency when it comes to the law-creation process. This sometimes encourages presidents to use executive privileges to "get things done" in light of gridlock in government (i.e. executive orders).
Presidents vs. Prime Ministers; Which do you want?
Parliamentary systems on the other hand generally do not suffer from this same issue because the prime minister (the executive of the country much like the president is the executive in a presidential system) comes directly from parliament (the legislature). Parliamentary systems have legislative elections only; they do not have nationwide elections for their prime ministers like presidential systems do for their presidents. The prime minister is an actual legislator first. Then, whichever party (or group of parties that form a coalition) gain the majority of seats in parliament, that majority gets to elect a prime minister from within their own ranks. In a parliamentary system, the executive branch and the legislative branch are fused into one institution. There is no separation like you see in the presidential system. As a byproduct of this, in order to claim the position of prime minister, you must have a legislative majority, and once you do, you also have the prime ministership. At this point, you can easily pass any law you wish without the potential of gridlock that you see in a presidential system if the president and congress come from different parties. In this way, parliamentary systems tend to be far more efficient at passing laws in a country and changing policy direction quite quickly.
History vs Political Science; What's the Difference?
Political scientists first observe political phenomena in the world. Then ask themselves, how did this happen? This leads them to crafting a testable hypothesis to predict the relationship between specific variables at play. Then they test that hypothesis with real-world data, analyze findings, and repeat the entire process, and get studies peer reviewed, and repeat. If other political scientists cannot replicate our results, then the theory and study are thrown out.
Democracies are declining, or are they?
Question: Do all people possess the same preferences? Answer: No, they do not. Question: How can democracies represent the interest of the people if those people have differing interests? Answer: They cannot. Dahl: Democracy cannot exist. We cannot have our cake and eat it too
Democracies are declining, or are they?
Robert Dahl wrote a book called Polyarchy (1971). Dahl defines democracy as a type of government where people can think for themselves, express themselves, and have their preferences weighed equally in government. He tells us that democracy is about people's preferences being equal, about us, being political equals. Additionally, he stresses that a major component of democracy is that governments represent the interest of the people.
Standing on a soapbox screaming, and no one cares
The Russian invasion of Ukraine which began over 1-year ago on February 24, 2022
Why won't the world help hati?
The United Nations Security Council would have to unanimously agree to send a U.N. Peacekeeping Mission to the country However, the U.N. Security Council has not done so yet, and appears, unlikely to do so. These Missions are always marred by controversy, human rights violations, and more harm than good.
Why won't the world help Haiti?
The country's caretaker government cannot provide for the wellbeing of the citizens, and it cannot create laws nor implement laws to try to do so. However, this caretaker government has officially appealed to the United Nations United Nations has sanctioned some elements of the gang leadership in the country; however, these sanctions will have no effect on the gangs themselves and the areas they control in the country.
