James5

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or to email alerts. Thanks for visiting!

I found this post by John Fox on ‘Chinese fakery’ quite interesting. I find it too easy to forget the repressive nature of modern day China, and the issues Fox highlights are good reminders that all is not well.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Rwanda recently released a report saying that France was very much involved in the 1994 genocide, even directly killing some Tutsis. France denies any involvement, but there have already been calls for French officials to be charged with war crimes.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Free trade advocates have often used the promise of democracy to encourage free trade at any cost. That is, they believe that wealth will naturally lead to a democratic society, so can justify increasing trade with authoritarian states on the basis that this will lead to demands for better governance from a rising middle class. But is that what we are seeing in China? Robert Reich questions this doctrine, pointing out the rise of ‘authoritarian capitalism’ in China rather then the ‘democratic capitalism’ hoped for.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Christian Lechelt and Hans Weishäupl have a fascinating art project called Faces of Evil. They collected photos from a range of cities and used them to assemble the faces of dictators. “A multitude of faces of active and passive accomplices stand behind the face of every dictator.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

I’ve been very impressed with the new ABC series The Hollowmen. It’s a mockumentary style series set in the Prime Minister’s “Central Policy Unit”, a unit set up by the Prime Minister to help him get re-elected. Though ostensibly they are public policy makers, their work mostly revolves around spinning issues and finding political palatable solutions to problems. Watching them as they ‘consult with stake holders’, develop ‘initiatives’, and ’seize momentum’ reminded me of Tom Davis excellent Public Policy Making subject at university, and is also making me reconsider a career in the public service.

The most recent episode, currently available on the website, is especially interesting as it deals with Australia’s relationship with Indonesia. The set-up is a massacre in West Papua and the Government trying to work out how to respond without offending the Indonesians.

There are two moments in the episode that really resonate with some of the concerns I’ve had about working in international law, and I think concerns that people generally have about the relevance and meaningfulness of international relations.

When the massacre is first brought to light and the CPU is working how they the Prime Minister can respond, the strongest response the public servants can think of is to “ask for restraint”. Anything more would be dangerous for bilateral relations - there’s a whole exploration of different trade sanctions and how difficult they would be for Australian industry too. One character mentions this is why he left DFAT, because they are so incapable of action. I guess that’s one frustration of the political/diplomatic side of international law - softly, softly, to get the result.

Another stand out moment was the discussion with the Australian Indonesian Human Rights Dialogue (AIHRD), a bilateral group that engages in dialogue on human rights. It was presented as a totally ineffectual ‘talkfest’ between the governments, barely able to agree on an agenda, it’s claim to fame being an eventual resolution to “agree to disagree” on human rights in West Papua. This is one of the questions I have received when I’ve talked about wanting to work for the Humanitarian Dialogue Centre, and is certainly a strong criticism of international institutions generally. Our UN tour guide said “Blah, blah, blah is better than war, war, war”; but when faced with UN conferences that have existed for 11 years without agreeing on an agenda and on-going fighting despite all the blah, blah, blah it’s understandable that people are sceptical!

I’d highly recommend you tune in to Hollowmen, Wednesday nights or each week on the ABC’s website. It’s public policy making in action!

Popularity: 9% [?]