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Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Yuck, Changes.

I am making this post not knowing exactly who it is addressing. I could be writing this to tell myself that I had changed my mind on a few of the things I had discussed in this blog. But then again, I can always talk to myself in my head, I needn’t write it down here. However, at the same time, it isn’t like I have an audience I need to clarify matters to, so I really do not know what the point of this post is.
                I had thought of deleting many if not all of the posts in this blog. I do not think about that often, but more times than necessary. I, of course, did not go through with it, for perhaps obvious reasons such as keeping memories, but for others I cannot explain. Regardless, it is more important to understand why I felt the need to delete them anyway. Simply put, I look back at the information I put at 17 years old (I think), and I can see how it is extremely oversimplified. It makes me cringe. I had also began a world country project where I would learn about each country for a week. It was a good idea indeed, however, I know better now than to make a post by the end of the week talking about a country’s currency and flag. I guess it was a good start, but now a few years later, I would not feel comfortable presenting a country and its culture after just one week of self-exposure if you will. The last thing I want to address is a specific post I wrote about food a few years back. I will not delete it, but in response to myself back then I would like to say, I am vegetarian now. 
                Alright, I do not know if I will be posting here again, but I know I will be reading this someday. I also know that I like to know wha... this part is for me alright. Aicha, here you go. Hey, you’re sitting on your bed in Malaysia it’s the “summer break”. Mom is visiting, and she has been calling for you to give you a French lesson. P.s. you still suck. Oh and you took your stitches out today. Kay bye.

Friday, May 8, 2015

International Political Economy

What is international political economy? It's a field of study which addresses and inquires tensions among different states, markets, and social actors and institutions. Keep in mind that the acronym of international political economy, IPE, is not associated with the same meaning exactly. IPE suggests methods of inquiry that are multidisciplinary. Multidisciplinary in a sense that it has a few antecedent fields that provide IPE with tools to analyze and explain the constantly changing relationships between states, markets, and societies in different time spans and areas across the world.

Some of the important elements in these antecedent fields included in IPE would be; 
1- Political Dimension.
2- Economic Dimension.
3- Many notables in this field explain that IPE doesn't reflect much on societal dimensions of international problems. On the other hand, scholars argue that "states and markets do not exist in a social vacuum", meaning the social problems such as gender based exploitation, and migrant workers, play a big role in shaping politics and economy.

Let's hop into the three dominant perspectives in IPE:
1- Economic Liberalism.
2- Mercantilism.
3- Structuralism.
Nothing is simple, not only will I be briefing about each one now, but I will get into further detail about each perspective and their critics and so on in future posts.

Economic Liberalism is concerned with the study of market.
Divisions of this perspective;
1- Orthodox Economic Liberals.(OEL). Free market-free trade.
2- Heterodox Intervention Liberals (HIL). State regulations and trade protection, "markets are the source of many problems".

STORY TIME!
This is where I make uneducated attempts to memorize educational matter.

Once upon a time I was walking to the supermarket. The MARKET is quite far away so I ran all the way so may HETEROsexual parents don't notice that their 5 year old daughter went out without permission. I ran so quickly that I didn't notice the HILl that lead to the supermarket came to an end. So I fell down and broke my bones. When my HETEROsexual parents found out they INTERVened and STATEd REGULATIONS to PROTECT me from doing stupid things. They also blame the superMARKET for being located down a HILl they think that could be a SOURCE OF MANY PROBLEMS. 
Heterodox Intervention Liberals (HIL).

Some thinkers I will keep coming across would be; Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Friedrich Hayek.
Adam Smith basically keeps saying "LEAVE THE ECONOMY ALONE" to the governments in his book, The Wealth of Nations.

In the liberal perspective, the absence of state intervention and social influence makes a pure market.condition. In this condition people are assumed to behave rationally. They will naturally desire to maximize their gains and minimize their losses by selling and producing. In a rational pure market, people with want to exchange and will face the pressure of competing with others in the market either locally or internationally. 

Mercantilism otherwise known as "Economic Nationalism", is connected with political science. In mercantilism there is a philosophy named realism. This is why the term Realist Mercantilism is repeated over and over in my lectures. Realism, focuses on state efforts to accumulate wealth and power to protect the society from other states be it from physical harm or influence. 
Since the 17th century, a state became a dominate actor in the international community based on the principle that it has the power and authority to practice sovereignty over its affairs. "Final authority."
A state has power no doubt, but they can be divided into two types;
1- Hard Power. 
2- Soft Power.

Hard power physical military and economic assets meant to coerce, compel, influence, fend off, or defeat competition and enemies.

Soft Power is an accumulation of selected tools that project a country's values, ideals, and beliefs. Films, cultural exchange, information, and diplomacy that convinces others that they want to adopt your legitimate ideas. Soft power is connected with persuasion and it can be much more powerful than hard power.

Structuralism is related to the third element in IPE antecedent fields. Structuralists stress that markets have never existed in a social vacuum and that elements of social and economic political forces regulate and establish them. Structuralism looks at IPE issues based on how classes and class interests are formed by the dominant economic structure in a society. 
Approaches that come with the structuralist thinking:
1- Marxism.
2- Dependency Theory.
3- World System Theory.
Structuralism is rooted in Marxism but not limited or exclusive to it. 
Further details on structuralism in future posts.

Each of these three perspectives provide different solutions to different policy issues as well as shed light on a variety of values. 

Term:
Economic efficiency; the ability to use and distribute resources effectively without waste; scarce resources put in their best use/

This is the basic Idea of what International Political Economy studies, and what IPE analyzes.
We will get into detail about each perspective before diving into less general topics.

Where to Study?

In my experience of moving away from where I was raised, I fortunately faced many good outcomes. However, with the pleasure of exploring new places and meeting new people comes the burden of loosing familiar people. And one thing I did with people whom I was comfortable with, was force them into spending hours upon hours on the phone with me listening to me explain the entire school syllabus. If I am completely honest it was reciprocal, as in they weren't forced at all, I just like to fool myself into thinking that I am in control a lot. Back to the point, in teaching I learn best. Well because, A- I feel responsible for other's levels of understanding, and therefore less inclined to procrastinate. B- When I share the stories I make, to memorize difficult words or concepts, it is much easier to remember when I tell them to someone else; because their reactions are always unforgettable. Believe me when I say the stories get intense. Well, now I am in the last quarter of the semester where it sucks the most and I can't seem to find my phone buddy. Therefore the subject matter of this blog will take a slight detour for a short while because... I will be using it as my phone buddy! Although writing in a blog will not provide me with the same experience as teaching friends, it is still one way of sharing that somehow glues information to my brain. So for as long as it's convenient, I'll be studying here.


PS. Vani if you are reading this I send you messages via my brain all the time.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

We Are All Crazy

A lady and a gentleman decide to make a child. Nine months later there is this creature that just evolved from the lady's insides. The lady and the gentleman decide to make another child. Nine months later there is another creature fighting it's way out of the lady's body. The lady and the gentleman decide it is necessary to provide shelter and food for these creatures, whom came to life because of them. All of this makes sense thus far. Nearly all animals do that. But a couple of years later, the children don't need to breast feed anymore. Yet the parents stick around. The children are called siblings. Why? Because they share the same blood. A couple of more years later, the children are fully humanly functional and can perfectly survive on their own. But the parents still get involved in their lives. They also probably live under the same roof. The siblings are involved in each others lives as well, not because of a love bond, they could hate each other for all I know but they possess that weird sibling connection. How is it that we care so much to live in groups because of blood? The world's societies are divided in the sense of having family groups. We are people who decide to stick together and be all up in each other's business because we share the same blood or parents, We are social animals who need to stay in groups to survive. But how the hell did that happen? What went about in the last non homo sapien ancestor's ,according to the evolution theory, brain? Which part of our brain grasps all these nonphysical ideals. I am so confused about the nature of life, consciousness, and reality. Which is awesome. I like confusion and craziness. Humans are phenomenal, dramatic, sensitive, and weird. WE ARE ALL COMPLICATED AND CRAZY.


Monday, December 8, 2014

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

I feel it's my responsibility to tell this weatheringnonsensicalglorious world about the amazing not very known gem it possess. I am talking about the video game/ visual novel Phoenix Wright.

Well that was one hell of a long and dramatic intro, so I will cut to the chase. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, otherwise known as Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten in Japan, is basically a law game.
The main character is Phoenix Wright, yes his name is supposed to be a pun for always being right. Phoenix is a defense attorney, which means you're as a player a defense attorney as well.. obviously. Anyway, during the game you experience being in and out of the court room. Usually your goal out of court is to investigate, gather evidence and information. Of course you as an attorney shouldn't be walking around as a detective, so that should drag you in some shit, which is fun. Your job in court however, is to listen to the whiteness's testimonies, make cross examinations, and simply make prosecutors loose the cases. And of course the ultimate goal is to save the innocent, because we are "the good guy".

The entire game experience I think is phenomenal, it feels like reading a book with participating in the story line in a sense. The investigation is fun, the characters are memorable and funny, and of course my favorite part is being in court and pressing that OBJECTION button. Ahh that smug look on Phoenix's face when that happens..
Lastly an honorable mention goes to the music in this video game. Phoenix Wright just wouldn't be the same without all the background music.

Phew, I feel much better after sharing this. The world needs to know about this game. Play this video game you wont regret it, and share this post so others can enjoy it too.





Tuesday, November 11, 2014

The First Two Cultures

Homo sapiens are 99.9% identical. We all consist of the same basic anatomy, meaning there are 7.125 billion genetically identical humans today. On the other hand, there are over 6.500 spoken languages. More than 21 major religions. Too many music genres for our ears to choose from. More dance styles than your body could attempt to try in a life time. And multiple ways to cook the same piece of chicken thigh.

 But most interestingly, we have an unfathomable number of cultures all around the world that have existed, are existing, and will exist. 


 You see compared to the world's age, the time we lived as a whole hardly counts for anything. So how did we evolve and differ so much in the little time our mankind got to live? Better yet, how are we identical yet so different? If our consciousness is emitted from our brain, how could it be any different from any other human's consciousness?

 Beats me really. But here is the deal, we should try to date back the time where the first culture was split. Our first cultural dissimilarity. When the people who used to live together decided they didn't want to live the same way together any longer, the infamous breakup. If of course, that was the simple way things had happened. And maybe from there we could make a cultural map or tree, we could uncover the mysteries of the old cultures and change our current ones.


This might seem far fetched. Surely there were many groups and cultures long before history even began, long before writing and perhaps even speaking. But there is no harm in trying to find the very first cultural split we can discover. I know I will be working on that. And that takes me to our first lead, the very beginning. THE BIG BANG.




Thursday, October 9, 2014

CoTW, Anguilla


Anguilla



    If you don't, like I didn't, know much about Anguilla, then be sure you continue reading this; because Anguilla turns out to be one hell of an interesting country!


Anguilla is one of the 14 current British overseas territories. So it's not a surprise that its flag looks a little something like this.



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Anguilla is a Caribbean island located in North America. The main island Anguilla is 25 km long and 5 km wide. However, the overall area of the territory including its collection of cays and small islands is 91 km. Anguilla's capital is The Valley.

       ...................


Story Time



Amerindian "Red Indian" tribes emerged from South America 4000 years ago and were the first to settle in the island of Anguilla. Of course they had to give their new home a name, but it wasn't Anguilla then just yet, it was called Malliouhana.






Ooh! Legend has it that the explorer Christopher Columbus sailed by the island and changed its name into Anguilla; because he thought it resembled an eel in its shape.
Anguilla means eel in Italian.








Anyway. Later by 1650, the British, who emerged from Saint Christopher island otherwise known as Saint Kitts, settled into the land and colonized it.
Ever since then Anguilla has remained a British territory with the exception of one year.











Under the treaty of Breda, the French took over Anguilla. But that ended quite quickly when the British restored their territory a year later.

Fun fact, the flag the soldier is holding is  a 17th century French flag. "Because that's when the French took over Anguilla". Pretty cool huh?




The British then brought Africans to work in agriculture in the 17th century. Resulting in having more than a 100 Africans in the island by 1683. Fortunately by 1838, slavery in Anguilla came to an official end. Africans at that point were ancestors to many of the residents in Anguilla, giving the current citizens of the land their African heritage.


Basically, following to the political agreements between the United Kingdom and Anguilla, the island became an "internally self-governing overseas British territory". A mouthful but it is what it is. 
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Things to know about Anguilla



Anguilla's current governor is Christina Scott. She has been the governor since 2013.


According to a 2011 estimate, Anguilla's population is 15,094.


Economy in Anguilla is very dependent on fishing, especially lobsters, salt mining, stock raising, offshore banking, and surely tourism.



The currency used in this island is the East Caribbean Dollar.



The dominant religion in Anguilla is Christianity.


Anguilla's official language is...
*DRUM ROLL!* 
English.
Honestly, if you didn't see that coming flick yourself for not paying attention to the British theme going on here.
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Culture


The beautiful island is known for its mesmerizing nature and most importantly, its dazzling beaches. People from all over the world make it their life's mission to visit Anguilla. How can they not when Shakira mentioned Anguilla's beaches in her song Loca?!
The skyrocketing amount of tourists with their different backgrounds help enrich Anguilla's own culture and make it that much more interesting and charming.

Music


I would recommend the music of a very talented Anguillan musician named Sprocka. Sprocka leads a very interesting style of music, giving it a Caribbean Jazzy feel. He also spreads peaceful and positive messages through his songs. I find that listening to his art is very refreshing and uplifting.

Check Sprocka's music out by visiting this link. http://sprocka.com/#



Festivals


To impress the tourists, the people of Anguilla make sure they always have fun events up their sleeves. There are always music and dance festivals somewhere in Anguilla. Most of these festivals are beside the beach, so everyone could enjoy the breathtaking weather and scenery. So if you're planning on visiting Anguilla, make sure you attend one or two or even twenty of their events!


Food

Anguilla's cuisine is quite similar to the general European cuisine. It shares most of its food with France and Britain. Anguilla's cuisine is also known for its sea food, of course what else would a cuisine of an island be known for?


    My meal of choice was Pigeon Peas and Rice, and Anguilla styled Johnny Cakes. Making this meal was extremely easy. As for its taste, I think it was quite a good meal considering how little time it took me to make it.

Links to where I found the recipes: 

National Anthem

No country is complete without a national anthem. Listen to the Anguillan anthem below to ensure the completion of your Anguillan cyber experience.


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Thank you for reading, be sure to leave a comment telling me what you think, and to click the little social media sharing buttons.