People
Aldo Matteucci
Former Deputy Secretary General of the European Free Trade Association
Mr Aldo Matteucci graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) in Agriculture, and from Berkeley in Agricultural Economics. He spent three years in East Africa doing research on land use, then in Maryland, working on rural development. In 1977 he joined the Swiss Federal Office of Economic Affairs. He was deputy director of the EUREKA Secretariat in Brussels, and from 1994 to 2000, deputy secretary general of EFTA. He obtained early retirement upon leaving EFTA. He remains a committed contrarian.
Related events
Persuasion, the essence of diplomacy - a seminar
New: Consult the report from the seminar. The book Persuasion, the essence of diplomacy will be presented at a seminar organised by DiploFoundation and the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies on 3 April 2013 (...
Related blogs
How can Wikis improve diplomatic reporting?
Everyone loves Wikipedia... yet hardly anyone realises the potential of the underlying software for streamlining paperwork in an MFA and significantly improving the efficiency of the archiving system. ‘Wiki’ softw...
Religiously objectionable material on the internet
Aldo Matteucci comments on the Delhi High Court warning to Facebook and Google that their websites will be blocked if they dipsplay "obscene depictions online of Jesus Christ, the Prophet Mohammed, and various Hindu d...
Why "offensive realism" is unrealistic theory of international relations?
In his latest blog, Aldo Matteucci, Diplo's resident contrarian, questions the function of academia in modern society. According to Aldo, 'It is a game an elite plays when it has lost its social function – i.e. has ...
Two kinds of conversation: Dialectic and dialogic
Ancient Greece developed a unique way of settling disagreements among cities: hoplites met in a plain, fought for a day and abided by the outcome. ‘For those men, the purpose was now to settle the entire business, i...
Uses and abuses of conspiracy theory
When too many unknowns chase too few equations one gets the “over-determination problem”: too many possible explanations for the same phenomenon. One has no way of choosing among them objectively. Conspiracy theor...
The (un)timely demise of Intellectual Property Rights?
Intellectual property rights, such as patents, are “good good good” - or so we say out loud. Well, way may be soon chanting a different tune. Patents were a conditional bounty at the outset: a time-limited mono...
Silent Culture
Jovan has culled this piece of news for me: On July 27, the Olympic Games will open in London.. Perhaps the most socially significant development in London so far has been on a broad avenue leading down from Hyde Par...
Wreckers are as important as builders
I was reading Eric Hobsbawn’s excellent eulogy on Tony Judt this rainy morning. One sentence struck me. Speaking of the end of the Communist system, this Marxist historian stated: The real heroes of the period [i.e...
Election as catharsis
The results of the first round in the French presidential elections have been published[1]. A “public intellectual” – Max GALLO, historical fiction writer and Member of the French Academy – has given an interv...
Is outcome a good measure of performance?
ChatGPT has sparked a debate about the roles of human and machine intelligence in writing and other creative activities. In the Aldo and AI project, we compare texts written by artificial intelligence to those written...
Putting planning on its head
I’m no friend of “top down” planning and have often chided anyone believing that this can be done meaningfully. Reality is messy, is my jaundiced view, and there are too many factors impinging on it: seeking out...
Be aware (and beware) of bullshit
During an idle pause in a multilateral negotiation you might do worse than read Harry G. FRANKFURT[1] on bullshit[2]. It is short (67 small-sized pages), well and clearly written, and full of wit. He draws a fine ...
Speak up early and loudly
Mainstream media no longer controls the narrative on a policy subject. It must expect debate, and counter-narratives. The next best thing to influence a policy narrative is to speak up early and loudly in order to set...
In praise of failure
(Errors are not the art, but the artificers – I just twisted NEWTON’s words to make the central point of this blog) Everything fails. Hopefully, failure will not surprise us: we have foreseen it, and precautio...
History and diplomacy
Upon retirement I decided to deepen my knowledge of my country’s origins. The title of the most respected recent history book on the subject bore the less than promising title: Founding period without founders[1]. ...
BAUDRILLARD? I'll admit to anything, Katharina!
Awh shucks, Katharina! Not BAUDRILLARD – it is forbidden by the UN Convention Against Mental Anguish. Being subjected to his thoughts is worse than enduring psychological torture at Abu Graib! BAUDRILLARD’s ...
De-discoursation and metaphors
I’m elated – the recent contributions by Drazen PEHAR and Katharina HÖHNE are a pleasure to read – and allow me to add to their thoughts I’ll reply to both together, because they are, in some ways, related. ...
The darker side of diplomacy rev. 007
I’ve long argued that teaching diplomacy is an exercise in Pollyanna-type thinking as long as one major aspect goes unacknowledged: the “darker side” of diplomacy. In fact, it was one of my very first blogs: num...
Availability bias
The availability heuristic is an uncoscious process by which our brain substitutes one (difficult) for another (easy) one. One answers the easy one, retrofits it to the difficult one and: presto! One’s self-affirmat...
Multi-stakerism: a case of cargo cult in reverse?
Democracy is the rule of law, rather than men. When people got together to establish democracy the constituent assembly was not, and could not have been, democratic (for lack of established rules). This paradox highl...
Climate change abatement and small countries
In a recent blog Katharina writes: “As much as “one state, one vote” rules or methods of consensus decision-making aim at giving the impression of resulting in a decision among equals, this is simply not the cas...
The perfect internet storm
And I alone am escaped to tell thee. JOB A recent article[1] described an instance of internet virality and its consequences for the people involved: “And then, on 5 March, Jason RUSSELL, working for the NGO Inv...
Is war still possible?
(A history of war in two easy pages including an outlook on its future) Hunter-gatherers only had portable goods. Raiding between such groups was probably for women and children – their main “wealth”. Agricu...
Circumstances: the great persuader
For over two thousand years we have celebrated heroes – in war and in diplomacy. By din of skill and savvy they changed the circumstances in their favor. People who argued otherwise – like Lev Tolstoy – were cal...
Taking the long view on Balochistan
Balochistan, in the north of West Pakistan (Quetta is capital), does not get much international press coverage. The Carnegie Endowment for Peace has just published a lengthy report on the politics of the region https:...
The uncertain future of national borders
With the emergence of the nation state national borders became a Western obsession. Every bit of the globe was carved up, with ruler and pencil if need be (see Africa in 1884). Predictably, long-term issues arose f...
Sexism by category
A raging row has developed over who is am “American novelist”. The matter is described by James GLIECK https://bit.ly/11B9uRe. I recommend reading the comments as well, for they illuminate the subject matter signi...
Is it misleading to speak about climate refugees? Of legal concepts, metaphors, and human suffering …
Who is a refugee? Who should be offered protection from human suffering? Much depends on how we define legal concepts. A recent topic that emerged in Diplo’s blogsphere is the question of climate refugees. Petru Du...
Generosity as fairness
Continuing the dialogue on the concept of 'climate refugees'...... 1.1 In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effec...
In broken images (Robert Graves)
In Broken Images He is quick, thinking in clear images; I am slow, thinking in broken images. He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images; I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images, Trusting his images, he ...
A brain made transparent
I have been arguing recently that the XXIst century will be the century when we'll bring together what is known (rather than speculated) about man and society. This will transform societies in way we can barely begin ...
Why we need strong internet governance?
Today’s system of “multi-stakerism” is a travesty in this respect. It reflects the malign neglect/scrutiny of governments (more than happy doing their profiling/censoring unhindered) and the self-serving bullyin...
Internet’s silent and hidden effects
Conviction without experience makes for harshness Flannery O’CONNOR The internet is an enabler. Arguably, the internet has been the most transforming event in the last thousand years – akin, in its im...
A tale of influencers
Behold America: A history of America First and the American Dream (Sarah Churchwell, 2018, p. 356): History is not ancestral memory or collective tradition. It is what people learned from priests, schoolmasters, t...
Compensating victims of terrorism: Looking at it from the point of view of international law and national culture
Today’s Guardian brings an interesting diplomatic issue into in the news: you can read it here. It raises a wealth of questions in international law but it also in national culture. As an international diplo...
What gives? Revolution or civil engagement and resistance?
Ever since people learned to fight autocracy and oppressive regimes, the battle has raged between ‘accommodationists’ and revolutionaries. The first ones pleaded for dialogue and used, if necessary, civil disobedi...
All there is to know in international relations
Some see two black faces, Some see a white vase. A few see them both. Both sides mock the relativists. It is all a matter of the right imagination... [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaw...
The abuse of analogies: Upon reading the article ‘Reading the CCP Clearly’
The pivoting argument in the article ‘Reading the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] Clearly’ by Perry Link (The New York Review of Books, 11 February 2021 issue) on US policy toward China is the topos of appeasement v...
Of topoi and memes
I’ll admit to a prejudice. I dislike Richard Dawkins, the emeritus professor for Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. Holding such a pompous title is enough to warrant a demerit. Dawkins is broadly known for ...
Violent left and right: Which is more dangerous?
We condemn the violent left and right. Are the threats equivalent? Is one more dangerous? Let’s reflect – in compact fashion. 1. Both share an ideology of a ‘desirable’ hierarchical social order ...
The nullification of international agreements and policies or The mongrelisation of diplomacy
Aldo Matteucci In the Westphalian paradigm states are sovereign in their national policies. In toady’s world deliberative democracy legitimises the laws and policies of the state. International convergence of na...
In praise of random promotions
“Past performance is no indicator of future success” is a warning attached to many financial products that are hawked in the Street. Few people pay any attention to the warning. In fact, “past performance” is ...
Sophie’s choice is no choice
“Sophie reveals her deepest, darkest secret: on the night that she arrived at Auschwitz, a sadistic doctor made her choose which of her two children would die immediately by gassing and which would continue to live,...
Relentless transformations
(a home-brewed China primer) The second phase of my early reading dates to my high school years, when I began to read poisonous weed. Some books had somehow managed to escape the bonfires- spirited away, ...
Drunk-driving and diplomacy…
The French police stopped the Swiss Ambassador to OECD, the other day, on suspicion of driving under the influence. Charges were placed against him. The Swiss government lifted the ambassador’s diplomatic im...
Shifting baselines: A dangerous illusion
We know what we experience – we see, smell, hear and handle – and store in the brain’s synapses.[1] Experience is the “baseline” for discussing reality. The problem is: the baseline is subjective. Here, a cl...
Applying the Dick Cheney Rule to the NSA
If there is a 1% chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al-Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response. It is not about our analysis ... Itis about our re...
Democratizing “public space”
I have attended a seminar on the subject of “Democratizing public space”. This is the text of my intervention. I argued, somewhat paradoxically, that “public space” is shaped by “what is not seen” more tha...
The truth, nothing but the truth… but it is all the truth?
A review of: Frank DIKÖTTER (2013): The tragedy of liberation. A history of the Chinese revolution 1945 – 1957. Bloomsbury Press, London) Halfway through the book, I envisaged giving it 4 out of 5 stars in my plan...
Keep the UN “at the edge of chaos” – including buildings
Christopher LANGTON observed fifty years ago that innovative systems have a tendency to gravitate toward the “edge of chaos.” Steven JOHNSON has just developed the idea to some possibly practical implications.[1] ...
Two Korean diasporas
Natura non facit saltus ARISTOTLE (?) Korea is a strange place – the incredibly successful South on one side, the failed Stalinist utopia lingering on in the North. The conventional portrait is so much in black an...
Reconceptualizing international relations
"Reconceptualizing” is a fancy word for describing something quite understandable, if not always simple. The world out there is infinitely complex. Our limited mind can not grasp – let alone behold - it all. The c...
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and Where Good Ideas Come From (books)
Thomas KUHN’s “The structure of scientific revolutions” has been hailed as “a brilliant original analysis of the nature, causes, and consequences of revolutions in basic scientific concepts.”[1] I never took...
Ephemera (I)
(Some reflections are not worth a full-throated blog, yet they contain small kernels for reflection – like plum kernels one rolls in one’s mouth while climbing a steep mountain on a hot day. I’ll post ephemera f...
Transfers of the third kind – what are they?
Alain TESTART has written a brilliant analysis of “transfers” in socio-anthropological terms.[1] He observes that there are three types of transfers between people: exchanges, gifts and, finally, what he calls (so...
Vital interest vs. policy preference
Analytical tools remind me of chess pieces. One has decided preferences among them. One uses this of that one inventively, even instinctively. In chess, the horse is my favorite means of attack, possibly because it va...
Gödel’s theorem and the Italian garbage collection system
At a champagne and caviar event, referring to Gödel’s theorem identifies the speaker as pleasantly and ironically post-modern. Suavely dropping the name Gödel is akin to be seen driving the Rolls Royce of learned ...
Reading the fine print on eco-taxes
Economists agree on one thing: taxes provide ideal incentives/disincentives. If the state wants to change behavior – well, just tax it! We have excise taxes on booze, on tobacco, whatever. There is a broad consensus...
What is silent transformation? (I)
Everything changes – yet we do not see it happening. The seasons around us change. Crops and trees grow. Mountains are eroded. Climate changes. We age. Looking backward we can discern the transformation. We do not e...
Against 'takeaways'
I just discovered TAKEAWAYS. It is the intellectual version of a Subway sandwich – everything is crammed in a short list of bullet points at the beginning of an article. We used to call it Executive Summary and had ...
Put the Internet for World Heritage List (instead)!
I perused the UNESCO World Heritage list, recently. As I scrolled the “properties” that made it, I asked myself: would my life change in any way, were these cultural sites to disappear, one and all? The honest ans...
Diplomats on a swing … (not swinging diplomats)
I was answering my eMail, at the reception of the resort in Kerala where I’m staying at the moment, when I heard sweet talk coming from the side. A mother and her teen-age boys were rocking gently on a wooden swing,...
Piercing the fog of ambiguities
I’ve been reading a prominent French social anthropologist, Alain TESTART. His critical analysis of the concept of “gift”[1] in anthropology is nothing short of exact. Reading the text is akin to intellectual Pi...
The winding road to understanding soft power
In my blog entry 211, I waxed skeptical about Joseph S. NYE’s “soft power”. I disliked the intertwining of persuasion and brute power. Persuasion backed by power tends to become dogma. NYE’s concept of “chan...
Could Internet fail “catastrophically”?
Internet has become a vital part of modern society. 25 years ago Internet barely existed. Today, the globalized world in its current form could not survive without it. Internet has been one of mankind’s great enable...
On religious persecution
Religious minorities often have a hard time sustaining themselves in a hostile environment. Ethnic cleansing and micro-genocides occur. Over the last few decades, the Middle East has become a hearth of religiously mot...
Asking first and second order questions
Strategy, we are told, sets policy goals. Tactics is about realizing the goal – mobilizing the means. Or possibly: strategy is about values, and tactics about efficiency. Another way of putting it is to argue that s...
Do democracies wage wars of choice?
The historian Andrew J. BACHEVIC has revisited the issue of democracies and wars of choice in his recent book.[1] The argument that democracies do not wage wars of choice goes roughly as follows: [2] War is a negativ...
What if 25% of the French population were vagrants?
Unimaginable, right? Well, this was the situation in the French rural areas under the Ancien Regime (things were no better in the stinking cities). Most people barely had enough to eat: at best it was 2kg of bread a ...
The waning of mind-maps
(with a footnote in the key of evolutionary biology) In order to survive, a hunter-gatherer of yore (or his contemporaries today) needed a mind map of his range, with information on game, water, berries, root...
Singing persuasion
Life is evolved by silent persuasion – so I have argued. I was wrong. Life also progresses through singing persuasion. This little video has gone viral on the net, and is subtly going to transform the world...
Is “human rights law” the framework of democracy?
Ms. Shirin EBADI, an Iranian human rights lawyer who received the Nobel Prize in 2003, has written an occasional piece (https://bit.ly/157Bvmw) - probably on the occasion of the “Nobel Women’s Initiative C...
China: Collective responsibility and harmony
(less than a conjecture, more than an untruth) Judge Bao Zheng (999 – 1062) became a legend in China as the “pure, orthodox and incorruptible character who unfailingly establishes the true nature of the crime a...
The Dulles siblings revisited
A musing on Stephen KINZER (2013): The brothers. John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and their secret world war. Henry Holt, New York) Late-comers to the European-led international system - Germany, Italy, and Japan ...
Lamenting the demise of mental maps
"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."[1] George ORWELL A friend of mine, together with an artist, just created a multi-page insert for publication in a review. Their concept envisioned t...
Of alpha-bullies, free-riders, and Bernard Machines
About 6 million years ago, the chimpanzees, the bonobos, and hominids divided up the realm of Pan, their Common Ancestor. Looking at the apish offspring today, we see a shared tendency for alpha males/females[1] to ap...
Wrong metaphors
Alasdair MACINTYRE is a well-known philosopher.[1] His After virtue. A study in moral theory is considered a classic. I’ve started reading it, but I have encountered “heavy weather” with his metaphors – in fac...
Droning on about drones (I) - The framework
Ambassador Dumitru has thrown down the gauntlet on the issue of “lethal autonomous robots.”[1] As Contrarian in Residence, I could not forego the challenge. Ambassador Dumitru begins his two-part blog with a quot...
Droning on about drones (IV) – The renaissance of raids
As I have indicated in my previous blog, war was a political act leading to conquest or coercion. This approach to international relations would seem to be on the wane. To put is simply: people won’t stay coerced fo...
Did Atlantic pirates reinvent democracy?
David GRABER is a favorite anthropologist of mine. He writes clearly and cleverly. And his insights are often arresting – even when (or precisely because) he does field work in contemporary society. He has written a...
Video-games for diplomats?
Diplomacy is an art – where “art” may be described as applying rules in a complex – ever changing, and surprising - context. Diplomacy then is an exercise in discernment: an understanding of what can be agreed...
Droning on about drones (II) – Humanitarian law may be counterproductive
Drones, and now lethal autonomous robots, are not just technological marvels seeking a purpose – they have a purpose already, and a sinister one: “Before he became attorney general in Bush’s second term, Michae...
Diplomacy and spying: ye olde chestnut
Governments have been caught spying on each other. So what else is new? Before taking informed decisions, governments weigh benefits and costs of action. To this end they gather – by hook or crook - as much contextu...
The ultimate human right – the “right to a non-projected future”
I came across Albert O. HIRSCHMAN’s economic development writings when I was trying to enter the trade, long time ago. Then I found him somewhat “obvious” – if insightful. Certainly, he is today the only intel...
Slandering democracy
I just received this message: “In 1887 Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, said: A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of g...
Of nudges, path-dependent outcomes, and niche construction
I like nudges[1] – soft paternalism – because they sometimes make life easy for me. In matters that do not excite me, I tend to “go with the flow.” I cannot decide everything, so I’m happy to leave what I co...
Droning on about drones (III) – War: from property to people
I’ve pointed out previously that “war” covers two very different kinds of affray: raids and conquest. This distinction is fundamental – yet it is hardly mentioned in international fora dealing with internation...
Problem solving or rules?
In her delightful non-fiction book: Touching a Nerve, the neuro-philosopher Patricia CHURCHLAND points out that “problem solving” is peculiar to higher forms of life. She underscores the point with reference to a ...
Fun and games with animals (without forgetting plants)
Technology is precipitating a change in mentality towards animals. Being able to record animals’ antics undisturbed, we begin to understand how smart they are, and how they have fun – just like us. Gone are the da...
Is scenario thinking useful in diplomacy?
The army practices “war games” – they simulate a battle, and this can be seen as a kind of “scenario”. War games are, first of all, training exercises in de-multiplying a general’s order into action by an...
What is revolution?
The Lucerne Music Festival is running this year’s program on the theme of “Revolution” – even this hailed concept has turned “monkey” and into a money-making tool. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung (the Swiss esta...
Lies, damn lies, and heuristics
To err is human. It is unavoidable, given the limits of the brain as well as of time, energy and resources humans can invest in making choices. Systematic errors, on the other hand, might be avoided, if we are attenti...
Non-contradiction
This fantastic animal is a “unicorn”. The miniature was part of an exhibit on Mughal and Deccani Painting at the Rietberg Museum in Zurich[1]. By the way, the collector was Konrad SEITZ, a German diplomat and writ...
Multiculturalism as a public policy
The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multi-culturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands[1]. It is not my intention to discus...
Are people prisoners of their history?
When violence occurs in a region, we seek a narrative to explain the conflict between groups – a favorite trope is that of “ancient hatreds”. In this worldview people are portrayed as prisoners of their genes (...
Why diplomacy is an art
Engineers are a proud and self-confident lot. When challenged to create a robot that could walk down a busy sidewalk they took to the challenge with earnest enthusiasm. Building the hardware was not that difficult. It...
How 5:30 Changed the Internet
If the main change in Internet governance needs picture it will be, most likely, this one. If it needs time it will be 5:27. It was the time when Egyptian governments decided to cut the Internet access in Egypt. In a ...
Borders II: Diplomats without borders wanted!
The Peace of Augsburg 1555, and then the Peace of Westphalia (1648) marked the end of common rules that would apply across emergent national states in Europe. Henceforth each state was autocratic within and autonomous...
Humans as other animals…
197 – Humans as other animals… In the 1930 Nicolaas TINBERGEN, Konrad LORENZ; and Karl von FRISCH created a new science – ethology: the study of animal behavior. Their progress warranted then a Nobel Prize…...
Market forces: a decline foretold
Our hunter/gatherer ancestors had say 300 SKU (stock keeping units) – the managerial term for kinds of worldly goods. In New York City alone the SKU is well over 10 billion nowadays[1]. If you think nature is multif...
When do hegemons fail? – Part II
In part I I’ve highlighted the inherent contradiction of a hegemon attempting to maintain the “right of exception” while asking everyone to abide by (his) rules. I now introduce the element of change to show wha...
Are states 'rational actors'?
“Realism is a tradition of international theory centered upon four propositions: The international system is anarchic. No actor exists above states, capable of regulating their interactions; states must ar...
Throwing words and images at a distance
(If anyone thinks writing about evolution in a diplomacy blog is far-fetched, I’ll point to Robert M. SAPOLSKI’s I/2006 article in Foreign Affairs on the “natural history of peace”) We’ll never know for s...
Forcing technological change with subsidies
I’ve commented on the economic rationality of “holding back” investment when confronted with rapidly changing technology – like light bulbs. I’d now like to look at the issue of “forcing” technological c...
What’s wrong with doping?
(a contrarian query) I’ll admit to a disinterest – I do not watch Olympic Games (and very few professional sport events). When the tally of medals happened to appear on the screen, I glanced at it distract...
Contradiction phobia
In his excellent book: The geography of thought[1] Richard E. NISBETT points out that the Greeks never warmed to the concept of O (zero). Though considered, they rejected it, on the grounds that it represented a viola...
Uses and abuses of intellectual property rights
A recent article on paleoanthropology gives me an opportunity to share some reflection on the uses and abuses of intellectual property rights (IPR). 200’000 years ago, our gene kit was essentially the same as th...
Theology or technology….
In IVth century Constantinople, it is reported, disputations were held in barbershops about the essence of the Christian Trinity. Was the Son of the same substance as the Father, and when did the Son “separate” fr...
Pity the Pakicetus!
(a true fairy tale) There was strife among the Pakicetus[1] – 50 million years ago or so. The older generation dreaded a future about to destroy the very population of Pakicetus and its values. Relativism was sunde...
The soft underbelly of “soft” power - I
The vagueness of the concept If you want to be a public intellectual in the US, find the catchy turn of phrase and then beat the chicken-mint peas-mashed potatoes circuit with it, writing op-eds in the NYTimes on wee...
Of Stetson hats and teepees
(I’m childishly proud of this review I did for Amazon.com – enjoy!) (Jonnie HUGHES (2011): On the origin of tepees. The evolution of ideas (and ourselves. Free Press, New York) Had one asked, 2,500 years ago, ho...
We might predict events – not impacts (part I)
(I’m fully indebted for this post to Duncan J. WATTS (2011): Everything is obvious (once you know the answer) – How common sense fails. Atlantic Books, London) I cannot repeat it often enough – small events may...
On the Protean character of diplomacy
(probably a light-hearted or light-minded fairy tale) “Proteus (Πρωτεύς) is an early sea-god, the god of "elusive sea change," which suggests the constantly changing nature of the sea or the liquid quality o...
Going to Mars anyone?
(The Case for Space - Why We Should Keep Reaching for the Stars By Neil deGrasse Tyson – Foreign Affairs III/IV- 2012) This article by former Astronaut Neil deGrasse Tyson is calling for a concerted effort to go to...
A long tale of 'enablers' (Part I)
(This blog entry is in two parts. In Part I an "enabler" – horsemanship – is shown progressively to transform the material society of the steppe. In Part II the social consequences of the enabler’s impact are vi...
A long tale of 'enablers' (Part II)
(This blog entry is the second of two parts. In Part I an enabler – horsemanship – was shown progressively to transform material society. In Part II the social consequences of the enabler’s impact are visited) ...
Diplomats as vassals: The Tang dynasty (618–907 CE)
The Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) was an era of economic and cultural development (some would say 'China's best moment') during which 'the world' paid homage and tribute to the Middle Kingdom. Trade flourish...
Like a drifting boat
From TSAI Chih Xhung (1992): Zhuangzi speaks. The music of nature. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Talented people have so much to do. Intelligent people have so much to worry about. But incompetent pe...
A 'free' market? II
In the first part of this blog I’ve shown that “property rights” (and markets) are a social construct and don’t have transcendental character. Now I’ll try to hint at an answer to two questions: Why ...
What is a humanitarian catastrophe?
This is the first of a series of posts on the subject of humanitarian aid. Having involved myself in the subject in the last few weeks, I’ve reflected on some of the issues involved. Not that I’ve come to any con...
The Precautionary Principle has a dark side
In a risk-averse society the Precautionary Principle (PP) – “better safe than sorry” – has enjoyed wide popularity. It has been enshrined in constitutions, and it has been the mainstay of a pro-active climate ...
Economists and Climate Change – Homework Comes First
A Comment to Henderson Aldo Matteucci – DiploFoundation, Geneva (Switzerland) David HENDERSON (World Economics X, 1) is certainly right in highlighting the “uncritical and over-presumptive ways in which [e...
If we want things to stay as they are, everything will have to change
These words are spoken by young aristocrat Tancredi - in the novel The Leopard, by Tomasi di Lampedusa. These words are loaded with decadence, cynicism, resignation, and even despair. Change is self-defeating – it o...
Zheng He (1371 – 1433) – an unrecognized genius
(a fairy tale?) Ever since a British retired naval officer published the fiction/story 1421 Zheng He has enjoyed a sort of revival – as the Chinese explorer who might have circumnavigated the earth before the age o...
Are democracies really peaceful?
(Are democracies peaceful?) Among the “theories” that litter the field of international relations the “democratic peace theory” holds pride of place. Not only has the subject been painstakingly researched ...
Do we have a soul?
(Darwin and diplomacy) Many have been told in their youth that God zapped the soul into one’s body – the “spiritual essence” that makes one human (we messed it all up by committing original sin, but that’s ...
The sinking of private enterprise
(oh no! not another take on the Titanic…) I’ve become inured to all those stories about the Titanic this anniversary year has bestowed upon us. They are so predictable in their tropes: human ambition of conquerin...
Mamatay si Yamashita !
(Yamashita will die) In January-February 1945, acting against General Yamashita’s express orders (then commanding the Japanese Army forces in the Philippines) 15'000 Japanese mainly Navy troops holed up within Mani...
Laughter and diplomacy
Augury of the two saints Han-shan and Shide Ha! Ha! Ha! If my expression is joyful I will feel less oppressed; Worldly troubles will be transformed into a joyful expression – To feel oppressed on behal...
My aim is: to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense
My aim is: to teach you to pass from a piece of disguised nonsense to something that is patent nonsense[1] "L'une des merveilles du monde est la faculté des hommes de dire ce qu'ils n'entendent pas, comme s'ils...
In praise of error
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” (Sir Ken Robinson) (Bronze belt – Northwest China or south-central Inner Mongolia c.a 200 BC) Actually I should not be...
Around bin Ladin’s death
verba sunt plurima multa in disputando habentia vanitatem Duns SCOTUS The demise of Osama bin Laden has triggered a lahar of commentary. I discern three strands. The first is voyeuristic: just as in a foot...
How much is Facebook worth to the nation?
What's good for General Motors is good for the country[1] Charles Erwin WILSON, one time Chairman of GM, occasional US Secretary of Defense Facebook is good for its investors – but is it “good for the countr...
Diplomacy and Web 2.0
Where top is top And bott’m is bott’m Top down and bottom-up shall never meet What if they tweet?[1] Web 2.0 is about social networks: many individuals – particularly young ones - staying always close, influ...
The ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ Revisited
Aldo Matteucci Senior Fellow, DiploFoundation Garrett HARDIN[i] argues that where exceedingly numerous ‘rational and economic’ agents exploit a finite resource, only mutual coercion mutually agreed upon can stop...
Diplomacy Is Where There Are No Rules
Aldo Matteucci Senior Fellow, DiploFoundation He had bought a large map representing the sea,Without the least vestige of land:And the crew were much pleased when they found it to beA map they could all understan...
The Power of Self-Organisation
Aldo Matteucci – DiploFoundation, Geneva We all believe in organisation. We worship the Great (or Intelligent) Organiser in the sky, and we admire great organisers, from Alexander of Macedonia to Napoleon. Our m...
The Dark Side of Diplomacy
Reading books on diplomacy (and even history books on the subject) one might be misled into believing that it is akin to engineering – a matter of precise calculation of advantages and costs. Of course, in practice ...
Everyone loves Wikipedia
Yet hardly anyone realises that potential of the underlying (wiki[i] software for streamlining paperwork in an MFA and significantly improving the efficiency of the archiving system. ‘Wiki’ software essentially a...
The Sunni search for self-respect
China’s President Xi Jinping has mentioned his passion for Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea on several occasions, most recently during a speech in Seattle on his September 2015 state visit to the United St...
It’s the context (and culture): stupid!
Instead of the Turkish “checkerboard pattern” of checks and balances, setting group against group to the ultimate benefit of the Turkish elite, he envisaged a pyramid of tribal leaders, in which the sheikhs of tri...
The baneful role of gerrymandering in US history
In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan-advan...
Of bedbugs and landfills
(a visual metaphor is the post may be found at AbsolutelyBrittish1.wmv) There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in sh...
Copycat China
YU Huan’s latest work[1] consists of two parts. The first five “words” with which he characterises China, recall his growing up in small town China (“they don’t even have bicycles there! - scoffed his mother...
Celebrating state power
As events in Toulouse (France) unfold I’m offered by the media instant updates by SMS, RSS-feeds, and voyeuristic footage of the siege of a man who, for “political” reasons allegedly killed seven people in cold ...
What is it like to be a goshawk?
(A review of: Helen Macdonald (2014): H is for hawk. Jonathan Cape, London) In 1974, the philosopher Thomas Nagel famously asked the question: “What is it like to be a bat?” He argumented from principle and logic...
China’s Great SSE Wall
(A 9000 km long analogy) Recently, the stock exchanges of China, first among them the SSE (Shanghai Stock Exchange), took a bad fall: 2015 – Performance of SEE Source: https://on.ft.com/1MqNG2p T...
Is there truth in twitter?
(In praise of fuzzy thinking) Jovan argues in his post: “The speaker’s words must pass through the tough filter of relevance before being transmitted…” twitter format providing the filter. This image comes to...
What is virtue?
(My readings tend to be peripatetic, whimsical, and the prey of serendipity. I had started exploring the concept of virtue, which had come across my path,[1] when another book[2] - published in 1987, bought in 1996, a...
Ephemera (II)
(Some reflections are not worth a full-throated blog, yet they contain small kernels for reflection – like plum kernels one rolls in one’s mouth while climbing a steep mountain on a hot day. I’ll post ephemera f...
Should the EU go for “big infrastructure projects”?
(a jaundiced view) EU countries are in the economic doldrums – no question about it. Unemployment, particularly among its youth has hit record levels. Politicians, forever in search of popularity, wring their hands...
On the sources of the Mississippi
(against anachronism in ideas) The Mississippi is an incontrovertible reality. Or is it? The Mississippi watershed While the central part of the river’s course is easy to define, as we go up-river to its “s...
Sunk costs have zero value
(An elegy on the Greek “problem”) But when he came to himself he said, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will te...
Ephemera (IV)
(Some reflections are not worth a full-throated blog, yet they contain small kernels for reflection – like plum kernels one rolls in one’s mouth while climbing a steep mountain on a hot day. I’ll post ephemera f...
Ephemera (VI)
(Some reflections are not worth a full-throated blog, yet they contain small kernels for reflection – like plum kernels one rolls in one’s mouth while climbing a steep mountain on a hot day. I’ll post ephemera f...
Ephemera (V)
(Some reflections are not worth a full-throated blog, yet they contain small kernels for reflection – like plum kernels one rolls in one’s mouth while climbing a steep mountain on a hot day. I’ll post ephemera f...
The role of the 3-I in international relations
(To find out what 3-I means, read on) A significant and growing literature on international relations (IR) argues that domestic politics is typically an important part of the explanation for states' foreign policies....
Blame-game among theorists of international relations
(who knows the truth does not seek the truth) No sooner has the Ukraine crisis established itself that theorists of international relations have started the blame-game among themselves. In the September/October 101...
Ephemera III
Two styles of rhetoric I have just finished a book on the emergence of the Czechoslovakian Army in Italy, at the end of World War I.[1] It contains both documents of the period and current contributions. It allows me...
Why do crowds riot?
I’m indebted for this insight to Duncan J. WATTS (2011): Everything is obvious (once you know the answer). How common sense fails. Atlantic Books, London (p. 67 ff.) History books are full of descriptions of riots ...
Democracy and Inequality
“Do good institutions—democracy and the rule of law—promote growth? Or are good institutions only made possible by the prior development of a thriving economy?” Joseph Ober, in the current issue of Foreign Aff...
What is segregation?
“Identity politics is back,” opines a comment to 362. I admit to having difficulties with the concept of “identity.” To put my queasiness into perspective, let me take a roundabout way and reflect on “segreg...
Do we have a moral obligation to save wild bees?
“In a new study, scientists show that 80% of crop pollination across five continents is carried out by just 2% of all wild bee species in the areas they studied.”[1] The other 700, rarer species have a marginal fu...
The speed of cultural change
“Irish voters have decisively voted in favor of marriage equality, making Ireland the first country to do so through the ballot box. Only one of the 43 constituencies voted against the proposal.”[1] In other words...
Battling human rights windmills
« At its 15th session, on 1 October 2010, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 15/26 E F S A C R by which it decided “to establish an open-ended intergovernmental working group with the mandate to consider t...
Heidi or Renxin?
Le promeneur d’oiseaux (The man who walked birds) is a movie that plays in Beijing and Guilin, China. Philip Muyl, a French director, wrote the play and directed a fully Chinese cast. The story has many elements rec...
The silent hardening of communication
The silent hardening of communication The usage of words changes all the time. Just as literary genres, words are subject to fashion.[1] If one only reads in one language, the evolution is not as noticeable as when...
On the limits of international law
Analogies allow us to illuminate issues from a different point of view and break out of our self-regarding Einstellung – the belief that, having “done the right thing,” we can move on secure in the success and c...
What Europe needs is a "Bismarck"
Arguably, the most important multilateral gathering on the XIXth century, in the West, was not the Vienna Congress of 1815, which froze international relations for the first half of the century, but the Berlin Congres...
Clash of civilizations up close: the case of Pakistan
Arguably, the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947,[1] with its concomitant massacres and massive population movements, can be used to highlight a “civilizational fault line” between the Islamic and the Hindu c...
Generation Y sets its rules
As Generation Y enters the world of higher education, it lays down for itself rules of good behavior. Below are the “safe space policy” rules of the Edinburgh University Student Association, as updated in 2014.[1]...
Sifting through the midden of IBRD yearly Reports
By sifting through middens, archeologists find information about the daily life of long gone cultures. Linguists have applied the same principle to IBRD yearly reports, and they too have come up with interesting findi...
The Confucian ruler as pupil
Confucius is the “usual suspect” when it comes to what’s good or bad about Asia’s past, present, and future. I’ve often felt that this ancient philosopher is being made to carry too much weight.I have just c...
Against the 'medical-industrial complex'
Contrary to the XIXth century, whose Zeitgeist could be captured in pro-active “Progress,” we live in an age of sensible “Security.” Admittedly, the state has remained melioristic in outlook. The foremost soci...
War, dirty tricks, and false analogies
Deception and disinformation, but also provocation, have always been part of a war. During WWII, the Allies hoodwinked the Germans with great strategic success:[1] Hitler’s forces were taken by surprise when Allies ...
Time out for a bit of mischievous fun
Each year, since hundreds of years, a group of Incas rebuilds a bridge across a canyon. They are experts at using ropes – in fact, lines and knots were used to record and calculate before Westerns came with paper, i...
Hitler’s swerve
George Friedman specializes in the analysis of international conflicts and is CEO of the renowned private intelligence corporation STRATFOR. His credentials notably include studying the potential for a U.S.-Japan conf...
EU and Greece: would game theory have helped?
Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has written books on game theory and “conflicts in economics.”[1] Does this qualify him as a skillful negotiator? Leaving aside the fact that he also qualifies himself ...
Counterreformation as counterinsurgency
Human society, I have argued, is driven by enablers (see my 99 and 100). The Counterreformation is a good example of a “complex” enabler for counterinsurgency. It is worth visiting. Faced with the “heretic” i...
What is “best practice?”
I have kvetched often enough against “best practice.” The term is an oxymoron. Praxis may be adapted or un-adapted - we only know by the consequences. It is never a priori “best.” It is a useful heuristic for ...
Three outstanding US diplomats
I have often expressed a dim view of the state as “unitary diplomatic actor.” It is a recipe for diplomatic disaster. For one, it never happens in practice. It is not a good strategy for the turnkey to assume and...
Should NGOs be involved in foreign policy formulation?
I have recently seen the suggestion that, in the context of introducing Good Governance to foreign affairs, states should accept Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) as contributors to a national foreign policy. Good ...
Freedom’s “budget”
In 318, I indicated that in real life, freedom is not a “free gift.” Achieving freedom takes the form of a “budget.” The statement is startling and counterintuitive. I would like to explore the matter further....
Do ideas have genealogies?
In a recent essay,[1] the Italian philosopher Giorgio AGAMBEN outlines the “genealogy” of the concept called dispositif,[2] tracing it to Hegel and other precursors. I was perplexed. One of the origins of the ter...
NATO’s puzzling bafflement: The Mystery of ISIS (book)
In a well-argued article in the current New York Review of Books,[1] an Anonymous author - formerly with NATO) laments: “It is not clear whether our culture can ever develop sufficient knowledge, rigor, imagination,...
What’s all the fuss about the Westphalia Settlement?
In his latest book,[1] Henry Kissinger praises the Western “world order” that originated with the Westphalia settlement: “Since the end of Charlemagne's empire, and especially since the Peace of Westphalia in 16...
Against the mindless provocation
In this short film, an ermine (actually, the stoat in winter coat) is playing peek-a-boo from his home in a rotting tree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkemK00kPo4 Now you may just exclaim: How cute! And move...
How do Caliphates emerge?
ISIS, an Islamist group, has declared the Caliphate on the border between Syria and northern Iraq, quickly expanding and even menacing Bagdhad. Pundits have conjured images of Islamic warriors on a worldwide jihad.[1]...
What can the Amazons teach us?
It is a fact – even though it may have escaped the New York Times – the Amazons were real fighting and warring women of the Scythian steppes that extended from the Danube basin all the way to Mongolia. In the last...
Khiva: A dashing humanitarian mission
Khiva is a town in the western province of Khorezm in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Along with Samarkand and Bukhara to Kiva’s south, the town is an important and often overlooked historical site on what was once the ...
India’s foreign policy as “crooked timber”
Looking at India’s dearth of foreign policy statements, India’s Senior Ambassador Kishan S. Rana has observed: “India has seldom published foreign policy white papers. All ministries present annual reports in Pa...
Massimo’s choice (actually, his pledge)
Massimo PIGLIUCCI , a professor of philosophy of science as well as ecology, has published a pledge in his blog Scientia Salon. Under the provocative title: The history of garbage is scholarship, he argues that i. a. ...
Are states 'unitary actors'?
One of the enthymemes underlying “realism” in International Relations (see 350) is that states can be taken to be “unitary:” In this view, there is only one and coherent principal, followed by a bevy of agents...
A rethink of the Biological Weapons Convention?
Opened for signature in 1972, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) is one of the mainstays of the UN treaty system banning weapons of mass destruction. It prohibits: Art 1 (Basic Convention text[1]): "Each St...
Weapons of Emotional Destruction
Over 5000 years ago, humans domesticated the horse. It transformed mobility. It also transformed local affrays into distance projection of power: warfare. Such is the unintended power of enablers. The enabling impact...
The ambiguity which is China
QIU Xiaolong has published another “Chief Inspector CHEN” mystery with the title “Enigma of China.” There is nothing wrong with the book – except the title, which was probably chosen to lure jaded readers. ...
Mowgli, science, and religion
Rearranging books hoping to create a cranny for new acquisitions, I came across a 1917 pocketbook edition of Rudyard KIPLING’s Jungle Book. Time had frayed the back of the red leather binding, but the gold on the ed...
The US Presidential elections: A preview from the past
Shigeru MIZUKI has published a three-volume manga: History of Japan Showa. It is a mix of both micro-history (his growing up in that period) and macro-history: Japan during the first part of Hirohito’s reign. The f...
Does counterinsurgency work?
Since ISIS has crashed onto the Middle East scene, counterinsurgency (COIN) has received a new lease on life. Pundits have opined on how best to defeat this novel insurgency. Being ignorant of the matter, I have looke...
Worlds that vanish – unnoticed
Thanks to the internet, nothing is forgotten nowadays: or is it? As we returned at sunset to the port of Hydra, I took this photo: One notes the reflections in the hand-made window panes. As the glass sheet is pull...
Is there “diplomatic theory”?
The diplomat, so the theory, is the agent of the principal – the state. The diplomat is tasked to pursue the goals of the state with respect to other states in the framework of international relations. In the best s...
The decline (and fall?) of the term ambassador
The other day I spent some time at the dentist. I waited for the newest CAD/CAM technology to work its wonders and outfit me with a perfectly adapted crown within half an hour. Meanwhile, I perused the glossy trade ma...
The re-invention of yoga tradition
The UN General Assembly on 11 December 2014 adopted without a vote a resolution commemorating 21 June as the International Day of Yoga. Addressing the UN General Assembly on 27 September 2014, the Prime Minister of I...
Should states have virtue?
This question might be slightly puzzling to the contemporary diplomat, who firmly believes that states should be moral entities founded on transcendental human rights. I came across this question while reading Albert ...
Total subjectivity anyone?
We like to speak of the Zeitgeist, the “spirit of the times”- the formulated visions and ideals that a social group at any one time cherishes and follows. Wikipedia describes the phenomenon: “The Zeitgeist (spir...
The virulence of analogies
What moves human societies? I’ve long expressed doubts as to the broader relevance of rational discourse, or ideas, as an agent of social change.[1] I have pointed to joint experience as a far more powerful instrume...
Rights of future generations: The emptiness and the plenitude
While there were certainly many precursors, the “rights of future generations” theme entered the international political mainstream with the Brundtland Commission Report.[1] The report spoke of “sustainable deve...
Light bulbs: which technology?
As an aside to the current Summit in Durban with regard to the Kyoto protocol, let me comment on light bulbs. Traditional tungsten filament light bulbs wasted a lot of energy by heating up the universe. A few years b...
Complexity and diplomacy
I know, Jovan has never forgiven me for this quip: “Diplomacy is where there are no rules” – yet there is more than a grain of truth inthis, and Pete's question about “complexity and diplomacy” allows me to ...
Do we see a new twist on a“responsibility to protect” doctrine that first emerged at the UN General Assembly in 2005?
Kishan RANA, our colleague, raises this question in his very own blog, as the Libyan saga unfurls. Rather than post a comment, I’ll reply with some “contrarian” reflections. I don’t have much to say on the sp...
Guru goo
One of my favorite subjects is « consciousness » trying to understand how the mind works. This has been the subject of armchair speculation ever since apes have emerged as humans from the Rift Valley – I suspect. ...
Mutual respect: the way out of the consumption conundrum ?
Pamela MAR has posted this comment on her Fung Global Institute blog[1]: “Our collective challenge is to look beyond the current economic model, to an economy in which people count for more than what they consume, ...
When is “due process” arbitrary?
George ZIMMERMANN of Sanford, Florida allegedly killed a black youth walking to a store. The man claimed innocence under the Stand Your Ground Law. Media hype about slack prosecution has led to criticism of the judici...
Measuring sea-level change caused by ice-sheet melt
There is no question that sea levels change over millennia. This is how Northern Europe looked about 15’000 years ago. Without going into the issue of what causes current sea-level change (or what to do about it ...
The diplomatic “context specialist" - an impossible "dream job"
When I was involved in free trade agreement negotiations we would land, one afternoon, in the potential partner country, and begin the “exploratory talks” at once. I still remember driving into then war-scarred Be...
How does a society stop the use of terror?
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. –Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Societies evolve. We have no idea of how it happens, but in a short time societies can be transfor...
When counterinsurgency comes marching home
…. Take up the White Man's burden, In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain To seek another's profit, And work anothe...
On the uses of contrariness
A madman is someone who draws correct conclusions from false premises. John LOCKE In the years spent at Diplo I have indulged my taste for contrariness. I have been called “Resident Contrarian” – part in je...
Is Obama the Worst President Since World War II?
Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors. He that can have patience can have what he will. To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals. Benjamin FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack US NEWS’ headline sc...
Learning as teaching
Blogging is at its best when it generates a conversation that elicits new ideas and garners new perspectives. Earlier this month, Diplo’s Hannah SLAVIK did just that when she posted a blog asking herself and others ...
The merits of parallel diplomacy
If you want to go into an African village, Always let someone from the village accompany you. Houphouët Boigny – President of the Ivory Coast Since their beginning in the Renaissance,[1] diplomats were an exclus...
Diplomatic realism: Nixon, Kissinger, and Pakistan
Kissinger demanded that Nixon stand firm [in supporting Pakistan]. 'If the outcome of this war is that Pakistan is swallowed up by India, China is destroyed, defeated, humiliated by the Soviet Union, it will be a chan...
Do states “strive to attain as many resources as possible?”
Ubi fracassorium, ibi figgitorium Pulcinella[1] This view of the acquisitive “group” or state (as from quote in 350) would seem-- at first sight to originate in auto-referential arcade games, where scoring max...
When life is a business
For the reflective man Is the creation simply a circle of greed? The ocean is certainly not agitated By fish flashing about BHARTRI-HARI In 1706, the Numunu moved from the west to the dominant continental grassla...
The Trump swerve
Where minds differ and opinions swerve there is scant a friend in that company. Elizabeth I Donald Trump, a New York based businessman, formally announced his candidacy for the presidency in the 2016 election on Jun...
Micro- and macro-philosophy
That’s what it is to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those… of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be alwa...
Big data and cultural religious history
MICAWBERISM: the improvident state or habitually optimistic point of view MERRIAM-WEBSTER definition Utter the word “big data” nowadays and research money gushes from the stingy pockets of governments, corporati...
The limits of the “subsidiarity principle”
“Subsidiarity is an organizing principle of decentralization, stating that a matter ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized authority capable of addressing that matter effectively.” Prese...
The uncertain ethics of Ebola treatments
An Ebola epidemic has been foregrounded recently. A discussion has emerged on how to treat patients with currently available experimental drugs.[1] Going over the arguments is interesting, for it sheds uncertain light...
A tragic destiny: Subhas Chandra Bose
I’m not sure how many people outside India know of Subhas Chandra Bose[1] – a major leader of this country’s independence movement who, after escaping from The British Raj at the onset of WWII, set up the Provis...
When “because” becomes “must”
I’ve followed - with mild though lingering interest - the development of fusion technology. A nuclear engineer friend of mind introduced me to its potentials in the late 60s. The promise of the technology is stagge...
Are democracies drifting toward 'psephocracy'?
The sociologist Ashis Nandy, one of India's most respected public intellectuals, recently lamented in an interview that India's democracy has devolved into a "psephocracy" -- a system "totally dominated by electoral v...
Trust vs. rules
An “outage” I like Malcolm GLADWELL. His book: “The tipping point”[1] introduced me to many aspects of social psychology[2] and created links to other topics like chaos theory and evolution. Never mind that...
In the land of broken truths
Anand GOPAL (2014): No good men among the living. America, the Taliban, and the war through Afghan eyes. Holt, New York Truth is like broken glass – shards everywhere, some big, some small. Pick one up, and one m...
Is IT transforming democracy?
Random legislative amendment generator A two-column headline in an Italian newspaper has reminded me this morning of the hidden transformative powers of IT for our political process. A far-right politician has dev...
The future of WTO
159 member states are about to select the new WTO Director General. I’ve attended a beauty contest among some of the candidates. Their personalities are impressive. But what about the policies they should implement ...
1972: 40 years later I
1972 was hardly a “sterling” year. The US had just unilaterally terminated the convertibility to gold and the world economy was struggling with the new system of freely convertible currencies. Inflation was on the...
What is a “social fact”?
A fact is a fact is a fact – we all know that. But what is a “social fact”? “Social facts” – according to John SEARLE who has spent most of his life studying them – “are only facts by common agreeme...
Analogies and other 'alignments'
A friend of mine asked me, the other day, whether I was worried about the impending gravitational effect of the alignment[1] between the Sun and the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy (known as Sagitt...
Is “proportionality in war” OK?
A landmark document created at the request of NATO has proposed a set of rules for how international cyberwarfare should be conducted. Written by 20 experts in conjunction with the International Committee of the Red C...
The demise of “soft” power?
Admittedly – it’s the silly season. Articles get published at the moment that would hardly have a chance any other month of the year. Amy ZALMAN in The Globalist has just published the necrology of “soft power...
Can we live by incentives?
After reading my 156 – Between markets and regulation a young friend of mine has argued “I believe in incentives”. Leaving aside the matter of “belief”, let’s look closer at what thw "incentives" theory is...
China’s desire for “stability”
As the new Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is inaugurated in Beijing, terms like “harmony” and “stability” are buzz-words describing the vision of the China Communist Country for the country....
Integrating administrative cultures in the Euro-zone
Assume, for a minute (but not more) that the Euro-zone countries agree on convergent fiscal, debt, and social policies (health and pensions) to save the Euro. Will the sun of economic recovery soon rise over a reinvig...
Truth or consequences
At a recent dinner among friends, a French "family lawyer" argued vigorously in favour of “telling the truth”. She was drawing, primarily, from her field of expertise. Behind her argument I could sense the princip...
Deconstructing De Borchgrave
At age 85 and counting, Arnaud De Borchgrave (DB) is still writing (in the moon[1]-revered Washington Times) with the authority that once accrued to Gromyko after 40 years at the helm of Soviet foreign policy. With Gr...
Is the Hobbesian worldview of international relations still useful?
At the outset of his book Walter Russell MEAD[1] contrasts “continental realism – the belief that countries are driven by interests and the quest for power in international relations rather than ideals and benevol...
Red-lining in diplomacy
Before the UN General Assembly PM Benyamin NETANYAHU has argued that the UN should “red-line” Iran. The country should face the foreseeable threat of foreign military intervention, should its nuclear capability re...
Wells Fargo Bank
As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. Charles Prince, the former Citigroup chief, justified taking his bank to the edge of ruin with these words. The man thus portrayed himself as b...
Witter – twitter
Cohesion within a group of monkeys is maintained through reciprocal grooming. Studies of captive monkeys have shown that grooming makes them more relaxed, reducing their heart rate as well as other external signs of s...
Two ways in dealing with corruption
Corruption – the improper mixing of public and private interest - is one of the scourges of contemporary society. How should we go about fighting it? The Western way is the “rule of law:” legislation defines ...
of “vanity” and “interstitial” states
Diplomats nowadays like to speak of states, rogue states, failed states – but they hardly refer to “vanity” and “interstitial” states. Let me explore these categories: they may become more relevant or common...
The Curse of "Best Practice"
Efficiency is the game in town, and “best practice” is the way to go forward. Such is the received wisdom. But is it so? On the most banal level – “best practice” leads to boredom. When all the tennis playe...
Eric X. Li: A venture capitalist writes from Shanghai
Eric X. LI, a Shanghai venture capitalist, has written an edifying op-ed in the New York Times[1] of 16 February 2012, with the eloquent title: Why China’s Political Model Is Superior. Here his main points: “I...
Constructive ambiguities
Every self-respecting diplomat has a (tall) story about a “constructive ambiguity” he created, saving a vital negotiation from foundering. Mine is based on two words: “and beyond” which I slipped into a Declar...
What caused the French Revolution?
Few historical events have been studied as sedulously as the French Revolution. Mostly we are told that “intrinsic reasons” triggered it. Louis XVI was signally inept, and his wife a spendthrift. The privileges of...
Kvetching about youth
Few things unite the older generation more than their kvetching[1] about youth. It is not just a matter of manners, morals, or their nursing the iPhone as it was an adult pacifier. “They no longer think – just pos...
Oliver LONG – a Swiss intermediary in 1961-1962
Fifty years ago Algeria achieved its independence. Switzerland, and in particular Olivier LONG[1], a trade diplomat, deserves credit for acting as go-between quietly and effectively, between Algeria’s Provisional Go...
When the gods descended into the world…
For two thousand years, we have read the Greek classics. We have done so in a peculiar fashion. Their gods were central to their worldview. We discarded their gods, which we despised as mere idols. In doing so, we’v...
1848
France, Italy, Hungary, and of course Germany, were swept up in revolutionary movements in 1848. The London “bobbies” were created to keep the Chartists at bay: it was sheer police power that stopped Great Bri...
Does more competition raise real incomes?
Government these days are keen to create “policies which are designed to raise real incomes by obtaining more output from the resources available (both human and physical)”[1]. The logic is rather simple: “ob...
How do scientific revolutions occur?
How do you get a bright and new idea, or the clever turn of phrase that illuminates your thought? By staring stoically at a well-lit light bulb until by empathy the “outer” bulb ignites the “inner” one? By her...
A “use” definition of a diplomat
I closed a previous blog post (206) by saying that “diplomacy is where there are no rules”[1]. Here is a situation, which would fit a “use” definition of diplomacy. (A “use” definition is one that describe...
Cleaner than thou....
I don’t want to point fingers in the matter of climate change – God knows that there is too much finger pointing and wagging by far. It’s bad for the issue, and bad for the liver. A study has just come out o...
Can we persuade Martians?
I have been reading too much on persuasion, these days, and I have even done some pontificating on the subject matter. It is only while reading on humanity’s Pan Ancestor,[1] however, that I have to come to realize ...
I’m deeply saddened today
I was not planning this blog entry – but I’ll do it anyway. I’m sad, terribly sad … and angry. Four people died, yesterday in Benghazi from sectarian violence. Four lives were snuffed out, and many others...
Making the inevitable happen
I was reading Eric HOBSBAWM’s excellent eulogy on Tony Judt[1] this rainy morning. One sentence struck me. Speaking of the end of the Communist system, this Marxist historian stated: “The real heroes of the period...
APPs! APPs! APPs!
I’ll stick my neck out on this one. The next five years will witness a cyberspace revolution comparable to the one internet has just wrought – and going in the “opposite” direction. This revolution is called A...
When opinions resonate
I’m indebted for this insight to Duncan J. WATTS (2011): Everything is obvious (once you know the answer). How common sense fails. Atlantic Books, London (p. 76 ff.) A bunch of people are separately made to list...
Kairos and the precautionary principle
I’m no friend of the precautionary principle – and I’ve argued against its indiscriminate use. I could not pinpoint clearly my uneasiness, however. Thanks to Biljana Scott (https://bit.ly/VghI0L) I’m now able ...
Better safe than sorry?
I’m no friend of the Precautionary Principle. It is not a principle, but a rhetorical device, which can justify action and inaction, depending on one’s fears, rather than rational analysis. A mathematics profe...
The EU unveiled II: Thematic EU Parliament
I’ve argued in 116 - The failed promise of the European Union unveiled (I) that in the EU free circulation does not obtain for politicians. Berlusconi would not stand a chance, if standing in Germany, and Ms Merkel ...
Collateral effects of Facebook diplomacy
I’ve asked a US diplomat friend of mine what his experience had been with Facebook as a tool in diplomacy. Here is his answer: “we had good results with Facebook outreach to Palestinians and Israeli Arabs on busin...
Is “Asia” in the making?
I’ve come across a substantial study of European perceptions of “Asia”[1]. It is one of numerous similar studies as background to the ASEM process[2]. According to this study, research on perceptions is not c...
Migrant rights: where do they fit into a “human rights-based approach”?
I’ve come across this authoritative statement on the “human rights-based approach”: “The human rights based approach: Is based on the international framework of human rights law as provided in the intern...
The power of evolution
I’ve just come across a case of human-made evolution, and I want to share it with you. Those who have more curiosity, or time, can see the whole story on the net[1]. Others may get the just of it – and my reflecti...
Who is afraid of sharing responsibility?
I’ve just received this breathless alert[1]: a law is being passed in the New Zealand to take away the “God-given human right freely to cultivate food”. I don’t want to dwell into the specifics of the New Z...
On "command and control structures"
I’ve made snide remarks about “command and control structures” often enough. And "principal-agent" models give me irrepressible and just about irreversible laughing fits. I scorn such ideas (which risk permeatin...
In praise of attention
I’ve read somewhere – but I can’t find the exact quote of Simone WEIL – that “civilization is paying attention”. This is both right and wrong. “Civilization (…) has been used primarily to refer to t...
Does diplomacy need (game) theory? - I
I’ve vented my prejudices against “theory” in the past (see my https://wp.me/p81We-xh ). For one, the term "theory" seems to me perilously fuzzy. Here two definitions I got off the net[1]: 1. a coherent group...
Don’t shoot the “rotten” compromise – it’s all we have! (Part II)
In 165 I’ve shown how difficult it is to carry out a calculus of “human dignity” – we can’t compensate those who are being made worse off. Let me explore now the operative meaning of “human dignity”. ...
Lessons from Positive Deviance
In 175 I’ve described Positive Deviance (PD) and given some examples from the field. I hope they were intriguing enough to get you to reflect on this “new” approach. Now I’d like to muse on its underlying assu...
So what if few get rich faster ?
In 1992 DENG Yiaoping famously said: "To get rich is glorious" (致富光荣)[1]. It reflected the “spirit of the times” that affected or infected the REAGAN and THATCHER years. The metaphor was that of a tide tha...
The genius in all of us
In 1994, at Inakadate, Japan, farmers seeking ways to attract tourists invented “rice paddy art”[1] – art that would put Chinese conceptual artist A Wei Wei to shame. Here is an example: Farmers use four kin...
Crowd-sourcing Italy’s future
In 213, I have commented on the Italian elections. Meanwhile, a friend of mine has suggested to me signing a “petition” on the future of the country. https://www.change.org – “the world’s petition platform...
Are enabling technologies “neutral”?
In a previous post I discussed Mr. CERF’s catchy phrase in his NYT[1] Op-Ed: “technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself”. Mr. CERF seems to have a dualist worldview: here there is “enabling techno...
Wisdom is what’s lost in translation - or - A story from the land of false friends
In a recent blog[1]I commented on an op-ed by Mr. LI in the NYT. I sent the op-ed to an acquaintance of mine in Shanghai, asking whether he knew the author. I also remarked on what I perceived as provocative, even pol...
Will 300 million Chinese leave China for Africa?
In a two parts article Asia Times[1] argues that 300 million Chinese will soon migrate into Africa. This prediction is startling enough to warrant consideration. The argument relies on a mix of “push” and “pu...
Inventing the invisible – II
In blog entry 178 I have provided an example of how we fail to see what’s obvious, if it does not fit our preconceived ideas. Before I move to ideologies currently at work in shaping what one may call the Zeitgeist ...
How does it feel to see a bat?
In Chinese culture, bats are regarded as auspicious creatures. The Chinese name of bat is bian fu — fu being a homophone for good fortune and happiness. As symbols of happiness, bat images can easily be found on ...
The Darker side of Twitter
In December 2008 Colleen GRAFFY, newly minted Deputy Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs, tweeted about her experience in the Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. In 2009 Alec ROSS, social networks guru at the US State ...
Sanskrit – Prakrit: Or the Voice of Silence
In her recent book Professor Wendy DONIGER states that the etymology of the language she teaches: Sanskit – the literary language of ancient India – is “perfected, artificial”. It is therefore based upon an im...
Asia-Pacific anxieties
In his op-ed “Pacific winds bring spring”[1] former Indian ambassador T P SREENIVASAN reviews the US-India strategic relationship and concludes: “The spring in India-US relation, evident after the third roun...
Does the technology tail wag the human rights dog?
In his recent op-ed in the NYT[1] Mr. CERF has argued that “internet access” is not a “human right” – though possibly a “civil right” – because “a technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itse...
Origins of the American Revolution
In my https://wp.me/p81We-zo I mused that we are just beginning to understand the complexity of social realities and of history. Sounds clever, but what do I really mean? As luck would have it, I’ve been reading rec...
Notes from the barren shoals of international relations “theory”
In the early 80’s a few wine producers sold poisoned plonk to the public. People died. Why would producers deliberately kill off their customers - a new way of achieving “market share”? No. The wine was never in...
Of means and ends
In the inanimate world, action leads to an end. The billiard ball falls into the pocket – and that’s it. After the well-aimed shot it stays put. The end is final. In the animate and social world, action leads to a...
The (un)timely passing of Intellectual Property Rights?
Intellectual property rights, such as patents, are “good good good” - or so we say out loud. Well, way may be soon chanting a different tune. Patents were a conditional bounty at the outset: a time-limited mono...
While the delegate drones on…
International meetings can be drudgery - we all know that. Most interventions are idle points for “home consumption”- or beside the point. Oversized egos show off his ignorance of the issues, or vent their prejudi...
Allow me a wry smile
It is not often one gets an unassailable chance to gloat and bask in the warmth of self-congratulation – to have an « I told you so » moment. I have just been handed one. But first reality check: this is my fi...
Ever heard of “positive deviance”?
It probably is just a further instance of ignorance on my part. I’d never heard of “positive deviance” (PD) as a way to “solve the world’s toughest problems”[1]. The existence of “positive deviance” wa...
Anchoring a negotiation
It’s a twisting lane winding its way between by squat buildings huddled together. People mill back and forth creating confusion. Small shops, following one another, spill trashy products onto the narrow passage. The...
Why do we love money?
It’s Easter time – it rains, drip drip drip, and the Easter bunny has knocked at the door begging for a place to stay out of the rain We are debating whether to grant asylum to such a crowd of little tails. Wil...
Hidden in plain view - I
It’s obvious (and efficient): we humans communicate differences and presume commonalities. When I speak I do not begin by explaining the extremely complex rules of grammar and syntax that underlie my sentences. H...
Pity Cassandra
It’s official – capitalism is in need of reform. Martin WOLF, the Head Economics Commentator of the Financial Times, has proposed “seven ways to fix the system’s flaws”[1]. In commenting such news, one co...
We might predict events – not impacts (part II)
It’s time to introduce a new element: creativity. I’ve tried to find an example of “pure” creativity: the invention of something we use or consume that did not exist before we thought of it. At the same tim...
Gambling in a time of crisis
Italy is in a time of crisis. One could expatiate as to the short- or long-term causes of the situation. I’ll leave it to the pundits. How do Italians react to increased economic difficulties – how do they cope...
Is war a biological trait?
John KEEGAN, the great historian of warfare[1], just died. After studying warfare all his life he came to the startling conclusion: “Keegan’s book serves as a potent counterpoint to—and more, refutation of—pop...
Putting people in their place
Jovan has commented recently on the name tags people wear around their necks when they attend a meeting https://bit.ly/SDO5C2 . He looked at it from the practical point of view of “usability”. Jovan’s point is w...
The medium is the twitter - redux
Jovan, As one says in the US: “gimme a break, man”. I don’t know the technical term for that two inch window at the bottom left hand corner of the webinar window. What I know is that (a) I can at most see thr...
Whistle-blowers and other aggravations
Just imagine: a whistle-blower has gone public with secret or confidential information concerning your government. A journalist calls on you to confirm the rumor. What do you do? If you are a loyal civil servant, you...
How to prosecute a mentality?
Justice is predicated on guilt/innocence of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. It is steeped in the view of personal autonomy and individual responsibility. Justice is grounded in the paradigm that the sleuths of ju...
Analogies (and metaphors) as mental maps
Katharina – who initiated my blog 137 – replied to it in this way: In a very thoughtful piece titled “Don’t blame man, blame the Polynesian rat” Aldo Matteucci warned about the dangers of analogies (and ...
The curse of plausibility
Katharina Höhne posted this comment to an earlier blog of mine on “Use and abuse of conspiracy theories”: But let me challenge you on one aspect: I think the distinction Badawi introduces between "true" and "p...
Don’t blame man, blame the Polynesian rat
Katharina HÖHNE, in the www.diplomacy.edu blog[1], has argued the power of analogy. She is right. All of trigonometry is based on analogy. Syllogisms are analogies. Analogies are useful points of departure in Bayesia...
How experts became an unchallenged authority
Knowledge used to come from trial and error – experience. Logically, whoever had been at it the longest had the best chance to “know best”. Indeed, father – and mother – knew best. Growing up one trusted the...
The discreet charm of the “social interest rate”
Let’s assume the 140 billion US$ fund to “fight” Climate Change is established in Durban. What kind of projects should each country invest in? Investment means sinking costs now, in order to obtain benefits s...
Does diplomacy need (game) theory? - II
Let’s recall the definition of game theory as applied to international relations: “Game theory assumes each state is a unitary actor concerned about promoting its national interests, and rationally calculates the ...
When do hegemons fail? – Part I
Looking back through history - hegemons seem to have a propensity to fail. Why is it so? There is no dearth of theories (I'd rather call them conjectures) in this regard. One set argues that hegemons crumble from w...
Did Machiavelli invent political modernity?
Machiavelli still is the icon of diplomacy – or at least of those who think that he overturned religion as a guide to statesmanship and unleashed a new spirit of ethical rapacity on the world[1]. Religion and moral ...
Speak up early and loud
Mainstream media no longer controls the narrative on a policy subject. It must expect debate, and counter-narratives. The next best thing to influence a policy narrative is to speak up early and loudly in order to set...
The EU unveiled I: A failed promise
Make no mistake: in historical perspective the European Union has been a great success. For about 1000 years Europe was a place of “warring states”. Today’s national states slowly emerged from a struggle for ...
Climate change? It was planetary history and plants so far – now mankind does it!
Mankind is soon likely to achieve the distinction of being the first animal species that has affected climate. Before, it was the planet itself, and plants. This is the short summary of David BEERLING’s fascinating ...
Poetry: A Survival Strategy for Diplomats
Many diplomats have used poetry in their diplomatic work: wrapping words in silk is the diplomat's job. A diplomat may turn a lie into a 'constructive ambiguity' - which is a way of defining poetry. Some poets have be...
Should money be allowed to “buy anything”?
Michael SANDEL – a professor of justice at Harvard, has written a book on the issue of “whether money should be allowed to buy everything”[1]. I did not like the book much – long on hoary examples (over 100) o...
Asian minds should draft a new climate change agreement from scratch
Mitigation of impending climate change is one of humanity’s top priorities, and one which requires concerted and cooperative action spanning the whole planet. Unfortunately, the UNFCCC framework, in my view, goe...
When the medium tweaks the message
More than specific technologies it is our “habits of thought” – our “mentality” - which allows societies to advance in understanding reality of a broad front. Around 1250 such a change in mentality took hold...
Vote for me!
My brother recently asked me whether I thought a more rational democratic process could ever eventuate. I harummed a few times, preened my logical feathers, and waffled from social, political, and economic theory. My ...
do nations coalesce into states from within?
Nations grow from within: or so the conventional historical trope goes. Nations coalesce around an idea, or a charismatic unifier, Mazzini and Garibaldi being two such personalities. The ensuing state may have to acco...
Between markets and regulation
New York’s Mayor Michael BLOOMBERG wants to ban the sale of soft drinks in super-sized containers. He argues that this will cut down on obesity, which is rampant in the city. On the surface the Mayor's “bright...
A 'free' market? I
Next time a fan of neo-liberalism extols the virtues of “free markets”, just nod approvingly, smile, and tell him that is it an oxymoron - a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. And then ask him...
The Swiss vote against corporate rip-off
On 2-3 March the Swiss voted on a “constitutional initiative” introducing changes in corporate governance. The voters obligate the legislative to create laws or rules within a substantive framework. Here, the ...
RIP rinderpest
On 8 August 2011, the United Nations held a ceremony declaring the disease eradicated, making rinderpest only the second disease in history to be fully wiped out, following smallpox[1]. This giant step forward for man...
The power of randomizing
One has more “good ideas” that he can cope with – especially early in the morning after the first coffee cup or late at night as the last whisky glass slowly warms in one’s hand. How to separate wheat from cha...
The Cambridge History of the First World War (book)
One hundred years ago, WWI broke out. Out of the blue, the Western-based “concert of nations” failed catastrophically. The ensuing war transformed the world. Despite the avalanche of writings on this singularity i...
Ambassadorial tribulations
Pity the Swedish Ambassador to Belarus HE Stefan ERIKSSON. He is an "old hand", accredited to the country since 2005. He speaks the language fluently and has come to know the country deeply as well as become a “majo...
Vermilion abuse (I)
Pity, in a way, China's Emperor Qianlong[1]. The “Lord of the Civilized World” (this was his title) personally supervised an extensive bureaucracy reporting to him either by the “open” or the “confidential...
Vermilion abuse (II)
Popular belief long held that one could steal a person’s soul (and hold him/her in one’s power) by casting a spell over something that belonged to the victim. Witchcraft the world over is predicated on such steali...
Study events – not linear time!
Prof. Maureen O’HARA, Department of Economics, at Cornell University, recently blew my mind away (not that there was much of it, so it created no more than a small dust-devil). As she was about graciously to receive...
Greek-style diplomacy: One-to-many diplomacy
Professor Raymond Cohen, a leading historian of diplomacy, says “The practice of Greek diplomacy was quite rudimentary” (…) “Compared with Persian cosmopolitanism, Greek diplomacy was provincial and unpolished...
In praise of superstition
Rational men will hold superstition[1] in contempt. As a skeptic I’d tend to agree. With one proviso: what we may consider “superstition” may have “positive latent function”. In other words, we outsiders may...
Small causes – large effects
Recent developments have, once more, proven the old adage that “small causes may have large effects”. The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2011 led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine ...
Trent: the first multilateral negotiation
Records of an international relations system go back to the mid-fourteenth century BC.[1] At that time already, treaties were signed. Brides were exchanged. Relations between extractive elites focused on the balance o...
How much water is there on earth?
Seen from on high our planet is blue tinged – the reflection of the oceans. How much water is there, come to think of it? (Credit : Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.) The left globule is all the w...
De-fanging nuclear weapons
Should we not take advantage of today’s “tradition” of aversion against nuclear weapons – I’ve highlighted this “taboo” in my 186 – to go for nuclear disarmament? A friend asked me this question. I’m...
Are intellectual property rights 'human rights'?
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the USHR on October 26, 2011. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders ...
When iin doubt - scare
The Barbarians are coming!” – cries Charles A. KUPCHAN[1] from up there, inside the crows-nest high up above the deck of the Good Ship “West”, which reels and pitches in the heavy seas of contemporary history....
Don’t blame the e-Messenger
The Brookings Institution has published a long review article on eDiplomacy at the US State Department[1]. Much of the report is factual, interesting, but is not going to transform diplomacy. Electronic means will be ...
Where did democracy emerge?
The conventional trope is that democracy emerged in Athens, 2'500 years ago. Never mind that it did not last long and enjoyed a thoroughly bad press after the political experiment failed (Plato for one hated it, and A...
Cucumbers and reason
The current scare over the EHCH epidemic – and the collateral impact on Spanish cucumbers and teutsche beansprouts - is a good starting point for a reflection about emotions and reason. The subject is as old as Adam...
First thing: don’t kick the obdurate mule
The Durban Conference on Climate Change has yielded minimal results. If outright collapse has been avoided, governments have not submitted to stricter emission standards for greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol has be...
Of Dogs, Demons, and Climate Change
The Emperor of China once asked his court painter, which was the easiest, which the most difficult animal to paint. The answer was: “Dogs are the most difficult animals to paint; dragons on the other hand, are easy....
Free trade and sailors’ rights: An 1812 diplomatic 'embarrassment'
The first US war of choice was the US-UK war of 1812-1814[1]. It ended with the Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814. It ended not as the result of military victory or principled resolution of the issue: the de...
On honor, humiliation, and dignity
The following “video” has come to me from the still waters of the University of Oklahoma, Stillwater. https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JVAhr4hZDJE&vq=medium#t=19 When it was sent into circulation th...
Freedom of expression and the right to offend
The following statement was posted for discussion in an Internet governance group: I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but the core meaning of Freedom of Expression is the right to offend, and in particular t...
Why Google is not an Edsel
The Ford Edsel[1] was one of the “greatest brand blunders of all times” – a car designed by market experts that never sold. By the time it came on line in 1958-1960 taste had changed. Ford’s CEO happened to be...
1972: 40 years later II
The great merit of LoG was to have exploded the whiggish myth that humanity’s doings always improves on “nature” and is inherently benign. This myth presided over many a massive transformation of the landscape, ...
Cultural differences (a tale of prejudice)
The internet washes up all sorts of flotsam. Along the way, comments attach themselves to an innocent photo, affording me an opportunity for a rumination on cultural differences. I’ve received this photo both fro...
When a “command and control” structure encounters a "Black Swan"
The most recent “Black Swan” event - the foundering of the Costa Concordia off a small Italian island - allows me to reflect on what might happen when “command and control” structures are confronted with the u...
Vanities and inanities
The New York Times is having a debate in its “Room for debate”. The title is: “Does Diplomacy Need Star Power? Can celebrity 'ambassadors' who get involved in diplomacy or antipoverty efforts do more harm than g...
The power of small things
The other day Jovan kindly suggested, in an eMail, that I “take a rest” after the shower of blog entries. The problem is – Sylvie and I are already taking a rest in God’s own country, aka Kerala, India. An...
Elections as catharsis
The results of the first round in the French presidential elections have been published[1]. A “public intellectual” – Max GALLO, historical fiction writer and Member of the French Academy - has given an intervie...
Controlling the narrative
The shipwreck of the Costa Concordia has attracted much attention. Some will feel anger at the incompetence of key people; others will enthuse about the integrity of the Coast Guard. As emotions swirl around the catas...
War crimes tribunals
The war crimes tribunals — Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and the ICC — together cost $3.43 billion from 1993 through 2009 in donor contributions; indirect costs of the national and international mach...
How was the war in Vietnam lost?
The War in Vietnam has been analyzed innumerable times. Narratives have been established to explain “How was the war in Vietnam lost”?[1] I’m not going to plunge into the mire of arguments, but point to a creepi...
Farewell to longhand?
This announcement might be somewhat premature – but it looks as “longhand” may be going the way of the Dodo. Young children are being first taught to write in print, and then moved on to using the keyboard. Long...
Can we really teach diplomacy?
This is a provocative question for a Foundation that aims to teach diplomatic skills. Yet it is a question that crossed my mind as I was preparing a series of teaching modules on Climate Change Diplomacy. We teach...
Don’t shoot the “rotten” compromise – it’s all we have! (Part I)
This post is a conversation with Jovan after his post on compromises. His argument closely tracks a book by Avishai MARGALIT, where a case is made forcefully for the need to reflect on compromises – and “rotten”...
Thomas Schelling: A most powerful tradition
Thomas C. SCHELLING won the 2005 “Nobel” Prize in Economics for his "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis". In fact, much of his work found immediate applicati...
Is France a democracy
To hear French officials talk about it – they invented democracy. Not just once, five times. After all - the current Republican avatar is the fifth. Elections are nearing: Mr. HOLLANDE, from the left, has an easy...
When theory goes muddling through
Twenty years ago “good governance” became the buzz-word among theoreticians of economic development. Once in place, “good government” would spearhead the drive toward development. Mick MOORE[1] has recently ma...
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists!
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists! US President George W. BUSH, in an address to a joint session of Congress on 20th September 2001 uttered this essentialist statement. He was borrowing from a ...
The emergence of the regional concept: South East Asia
We can trace the contingent emergence of the regional concept of South East Asia to WWII. It was created to give Dickie MOUNTBATTEN nothing to do[1]. Too well connected to the British Royal Family and too self-aggrand...
The irony of the T'ang
Western art did not take easily to realism, irony, and caricature. Greek and Roman art was set mainly in the heroic and hieratic mode. Paintings of private homes of Pompeii and Herculaneum at times suggest the grotesq...
Collateral entanglements
When a negotiation is first envisaged, the main objective is identified: say, achieving “free trade between two countries”, or “enhancing security” - whatever. In deciding whether to undertake this process,...
When we want virtue, is coercion a good strategy?
When preparing the Draft South African Constitution, Judge Albie SACHS[1] reports, one of the dividing issues among the Drafters was the inclusion of the Bill of Rights in it, with its guarantees for property. Given t...
The disappearance of the concept of “recognition” – III
While writing up the blog entries on Positive Deviance (see my 175 and 176) I decided to read Isaiah BERLIN’s famous essay: Two concepts of liberty[1]. BERLIN’s discursive style is always a pleasure to read, thoug...
On the origins of World War I
World War I was unexpected, and for most, inexplicable. A hundred years later, as the anniversary looms, it has become the disconsolate symbol of “historical discontinuity.” Today’s gloomy Zeitgeist (particularl...
The medium is the twitter
Yesterday I was introduced to the Webinar – a seminar on the web. At UC Berkeley I loved taking part in seminars. If the weather was fine, we might go out and sit on the freshly mown lawn. The occasional hummingb...
An icon for the Occupy Wall Street Movement
You all know Wall’s Street’s icon – the Charging Bull: John R. Hutchinson is an anatomist who works at the Royal Veterinary College in London but is not affiliated with it. He does extraordinary work in prese...
Beware of 'market forces'
Young economic diplomats are soon taught to recognize, respect, and open the way for “market forces”. These forces are unassailable – the working of the “invisible hand” - and sweep the world toward ever hig...
A Santa Claus theory of China’s history
(A review of Orville SCHELL – John DELURY (2013): Wealth and power. China’s long march to the twenty-first century. Little, Brown, New York) All history books build on an overarching worldview; the authors call...
One agreement too far…?
The Brooklyn Bridge was the first major suspension bridge, completed in 1883. This basic design was improved upon – over time such bridges more than doubled in length. As confidence in the technology grew, some of t...
Once upon a change in mentality…
(just a fairy tale?) We love to anchor history to events – kings and battles or revolutions. Savvy historians tell us that this reflects our need for retrospective coherence - and not reality (which is mostly chaot...
A tale of two Nazi atrocities
While the Nazis perpetrated most of their atrocities in the East[1], occupied countries in the West were not exempt from hideous massacres. Italy: When Italian resistance killed 33 German soldiers in Rome in 1944,...
What if?
Counterfactual history[1] is mostly idle speculation - is Monday night quarter-backing. After all, when we engage is such spinning hypotheses we do not change all the concomitant causes of an event – we select just ...
Stakeholders? On tap - not on top!
Kwetching about 'multi-stakeholderism' “Multi-stakeholderism” – addressing issues and solving problems in international relations within a coalition of willing participants – has been touted as institutiona...
WTO – is there a future for BHAGWATI’s “spaghetti bowl”?
(A conjecture – not a theory) The Doha Round in WTO looks like being dead in the water. Wails are heard from many shores while protectionist interests frolic behind rhetoric-swept dunes. Has multilateral diplomacy ...
KISS – the attraction of direct democracy
Switzerland being a direct-democratic country, the people may elect to abrogate any law. At the Federal level 50’000 signatures are enough to trigger such a vote. Other numbers apply to the cantonal and local level....
The border-making process in Africa
When I first mentioned to a diplomatic friend my intention of writing a blog entry on 'diplomats without borders', I was met with incredulity. 'Diplomats are the peacetime gate keepers at the border! You can’t have ...
Vox populi... (Italy 2013)
Italy has voted. And the winner is….the people! I’d say. Do not let blinkered pundits lead you astray. The people’s message is: “Think out of the box”. The electoral vote is a classic case of “unexpecte...
News, newsworthiness and 'truths'
An Oxford Don (or Doña? – since my friend Bi is a lady) called me up the other day. She had been asked to participate in the seminar Translation and Language in the Media, and asked me for my three-penny worth of o...
Related resources
Civilisation and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History
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