The Brexit referendum drew a great of attention in late June, because Britain’s decision to exit the European Union was seen as the beginning of the end for the European Union and, ultimately, international governance. International governance is required to maintain a high degree of peace and stability across the globe. This writer has argued the Brexit was actually just an example of a country recalibrating its diplomatic relations to better reflect the interests of its People. On the other hand, events like the Ukraine Crisis, failing international intervention in the Syrian Civil War, and the South China Sea Crisis are not.
Although these conflicts involve confrontations between powerful nations and shifts in relations between countries, the overly competitive nature of these conflicts makes them threats to international governance. Competition is an inherent part of life, but too much competition is utterly counterproductive as it leads to mutually destructive conflict. To build communities and nations, cooperation is essential. When competition between antagonistic political factions becomes so fierce that nations can no longer be governed, deep divisions eventually degenerate into violent conflicts that tear nations apart, i.e. they lead to civil war.
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The Syrian Civil War continues to hold the attention of the international media like few other stories, yet the more than five-year long conflict is important to the world for two major reasons. First, the Syrian Civil War demonstrates the impotence of the International Community. Not only has the toothless United Nations failed to broker peace between warring parties in Syria, the strength of the United States and other major military powers has been rendered useless due to the strategic need to avoid entanglement and mission creep. Above all, the Syrian Civil War is not just a war; it is the conflict that has drawn the most attention in the Arab Spring Revolutions-era Middle East, thus the failures in Syria are symbolic of the failures seen across the region.
Second, the Syrian Civil War is a proxy war between Russia and the United States. The ongoing Ukraine Crisis is also a proxy war between Russia and the United States, but Russian President Vladimir Putin chose to make the Middle Eastern struggle into a proxy war when he intervened on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the fall of 2015. Hoping to capitalize on the Islamic State threat, it appeared Putin’s strategic goal was to force the United States and Europe to choose between the defense of Ukrainian sovereignty and the threat of terrorism. Instead of bogging down NATO forces in Syria and reversing punitive measures against Putin, the West has chosen to maintain the status quo, which has meant disaster for the Syrian People. Olympic competitions divide the world along nationality. In a world where notions like “internationalism” and “multiculturalism” dominant global affairs to the point “nationalistic” thinking nearly qualifies as immoral, the patriotic fervor of the Olympics can be almost refreshing. On the one hand, the patriotic spirit of the Olympics offers people a chance to take pride in the accomplishments of their fellow countrymen and their national achievements. On the other hand, it also offers insights into the behavior of leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and many others.
For a country like the United States, which has a national identity born out of democracy instead of a cultural legacy, patriotism means embracing and celebrating democracy. The truth is, however, there are few faithful democrats in the world, or even in the US for that matter. Most people embrace democracy when, and because, it is beneficial to them. There are internationalists like US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who view democratic as a means to ensure global security and prosperity, but there are many more nationalistic patriots who prioritize their nation’s survival above democracy. Economic security for all ensures the prosperity of the wealthy and the middle class while creating opportunities the poor and destitute can potentially access. Opening opportunities to the impoverished, conversely, fosters economic security and prosperity. As such, it is necessary for business and other community leaders to cultivate socioeconomic environments that foster prosperity and financial security in order to ensure one’s own prosperity. That said, cronyism, cut-throat competition, and corruption are also ways to enrich an ever-narrowing power elite, yet the abusive pursuit of one’s own financial and other interests at the expense of others has costs.
In many underdeveloped countries where poverty is widespread, including 2016 Olympics host Brazil, the wealthy elite are under such an extreme threat from the impoverished majority that they must barricade themselves in compounds and devote much of their time to securing their wealth. In oligarchic Russia, the beneficiaries of corruption live in luxury, yet their wealth can be seized at any time as they are under perpetual threat of reprisal for political dissent, mistakes, or even the very act of aging. To safeguard their affluence, self-serving elites enslave themselves to unforgiving kingpins while denying the Peoples of entire nations economic security, freedom, and opportunity. Clearly, fostering prosperity for all is a better option. Opportunities turn into prosperity when there are needs to be fulfilled and when enterprising individuals with ideas, skills, and ambition have access to the proper resources. The world is lush with need, yet there is also the human resources and intellectual capital needed to address that need. Unfortunately, countless opportunities to solve problems and foster prosperity for those trapped in poverty and other dire situations are lost, because those with the insights needed to solve those issues are blocked from seizing opportunities and harnessing their full potential.
In other words, the right people are not in the right position to solve problems due to a lack of influence, mentorship, career choices, capital, and other material resources needed to cultivate their potential. A great deal of the reason communities and businesses foster a scarcity of opportunities, instead of cultivating the potential to achieve prosperity, starts with the way in which socioeconomic factors keep the right people from coming together and working to ensure prosperity for all. |
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April 2020
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