we've gone far afield ... but what the heck
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dayuhan
Not ignore the problems, accept that they are not our problems to solve and that we've neither the responsibility nor the right to impose ourselves and our "solutions" on those involved.
While that solution has a certain elegance reality is that we have made it our problem. Call it "the best defense is a good offense" or simply a prophylactic approach to instability/terrorism, we have decided that it is better to expend a little blood and treasure now than have to deal with the consequences latter.
Taking that as a given, I think it better to do it with some understanding of the social/cultural systems we are screwing with rather than to simply continue to tinker with them, assuming everyone wants to be just like us without analyzing what it is they actually want or even what it is about us they may have any desire for. When things don't work out we blame them for being "too corrupt" without understanding why corruption "works" in their society. We say they don't understand, they have no loyalty, they are not professional, they micromanage, all the while thinking to ourselves 'we're right, why can't they just be more like us?" but never really looking into why it is that are not like us.
Assuming there are actually recognizable cultural/political typologies and that there is a reason why these typologies work in certain situations and not in others, I would think it would be worth our effort to look into these rather than continuing to try things and then analyze the data after our failure to figure out where we went wrong.
There ... I feel better now.
My interest is primarily Afghanistan, but it would make no deference if it were there or Africa -- the cultural/political typologies should be universal (with obvious local flavors): Head Man/Big Man; Chiefdom/Monarchy; Democracy/Republic. What I am looking at is the value system that underlay each of these and make them acceptable to the segment of the population we are concerned with influencing. I do not believe they are evolutionary, but rather specific to the environmental/economic condition the population find themselves in.