http://mattdearing.com/WordPress politics, economics, culture, war, peace Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:09:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en There is a curious relationship between democracy and market-capitalism.  On the one hand, they appear to support each other, whereas on the other hand, they appear to alter and confine each other.  This essay will examine that relationship under the assumption that these two concepts are inherently opposed to each ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=40 This week the American Anthropological Association (AAA) layed out their long awaited position on the Human Terrain System (HTS).  Essentially, they criticized the US military for thinking it can use anthropology in an unjust war (Iraq and presumably Afghanistan included), but left open the future use of anthropology in the military, ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=39 Gilpin’s thesis is that a group or state with greater relative power than others, will try to modify the political system in its interests until the cost-benefit of doing so is no longer in its advantage.  Gilpin presents the reader with a framework for understanding this concept, similar to that ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=38 Edward Said’s book, Orientalism, is a description of the way the West (Occident) studies and analyzes the East (Orient).  His thesis is that the Occident ultimately frames all analysis of the Orient in a critical paradigm relating differences as inferiority to the West.  According to Said, Orientalism is a deeply ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=37 I'm in grad school now and with that is the responsibility of organizing my readings in a coherent and concise fashion for easy access and a quick grasp of the author's main ideas and arguments.  So each of the books I read (about 5-10) a week will require a short synopsis which I can ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=36 The New York Times posts a thought twister that bends the semantic reach of "rational" warfare (my own quotes).  Talking about the assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Reesha, a Sunni tribal leader in Iraq, the Times explains that he was the "leader of the American supported Sunni tribal uprising against extremist ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=35 United Democratic Front (UDF) and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) officials threw in the towel on their long (over a year) fight to implement section 65 of the Malawi Constitution that calls for MPs, "who defect from the party that sponsored them, which is described as 'crossing the floor', are to be ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=33 This week is a bit hectic, with a trip to New Jersey, solidifying our new rental contract, selling furniture, buying furniture, boxing up, packing up...We'll be moving Saturday morning to Monterey and will be finished by that afternoon, hopefully. Moving is like trying a new bottle of wine.  You are a ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=32  Last week, President Clinton and Scottish philanthropist, Sir Tom Hunter, visited Malawi to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the people of Malawi through President Bingu wa Mutharika.  The MOU is designed to provide private money for rural development projects.  The unique quality of this MOU is that it keeps power and ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=31 Packer writes a bit on the use of Human Terrain Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan in his New Yorker blog on July 20th.  He sees a growing relationship between social scientists and soldiers, a mixture typically considered taboo in the past.  The professionalization of both sides of the spectrum, coupled ... http://mattdearing.com/WordPress/?p=30