Barry Stocker barrystocker@mac.com Waterloo The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is now in the run up to a referendum on ‘renegotiated’ membership of the European Union which will supposedly return some sovereignty to UK political institutions. The date of the referendum and the details of the ‘renegotiation’, which in all likelihood will … Continue reading Myths of Sovereignty and British Isolation
Continuing from here. The French, or at least the dominant part of its elites, together with a more ambiguous but largely assenting public opinion, sees the chance to maintain a large European role and an accompanying global role through the EU, using the EU to maintain the importance of French as an administrative language and … Continue reading Myths of Sovereignty and British Isolation XVI, Britain’s Significant Others: France and Germany (2)
Oooo lawdy! “Part of the problem is the Kurds aren’t getting enough arms,” Paul said. “The Kurds are the best fighters. The arms are going through Baghdad to get to the Kurds and they’re being siphoned off and they’re not getting what they need. I think any arms coming from us or coming from any … Continue reading Has Senator Rand Paul been reading NOL?
I just came across a fascinating new article on decentralization by two political scientists. Here is the abstract: Numerous developing countries have substantially increased their number of sub-national administrative units in recent years. The literature on this phenomenon is, nonetheless, small and suffers from several theoretical and methodological shortcomings; in particular, a unit of analysis … Continue reading What’s up with decentralization (“Administrative Unit Proliferation”) in Uganda these days?
Foreign policy expert (and Reason contributor) Michael Young had an op-ed out last week on nationalism and imperialism in the Middle East. Writing in The National, Young argues that Western imperialism should not be blamed for the problems of the Middle East today. Young argues that the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire guaranteed that violence … Continue reading Imperialisms, Old and New: Sykes-Picot and the United Nations
I would think so, especially after reading this: The movement toward free trade agreements and globalization during the past 60 years has enormously reduced the economic advantages of having a larger domestic market to sell goods ands services. Small countries can sell their goods to other countries, both large and small, almost as easily as … Continue reading Has Nobel Laureate Gary Becker been reading NOL?
As many of you may know, the recently-minted country of South Sudan has descended into civil war. I’m going to show you how this violence was actually predictable, but first I want to point out a couple of things. Why did South Sudan get international recognition and not Somaliland, which has been a functioning democracy … Continue reading Weekend Question: What to do about the violence in South Sudan?
Parag Khanna definitely reads Notes On Liberty. From his latest op-ed in the New York Times: Devolution is even happening in China. Cities have been given a long leash to develop innovative economic models, and Beijing depends on their growth. One of the most popular adages among China watchers today is: “The hills are high, … Continue reading Does the New York Times read NOL?
I’m thinking of starting a new project of putting up maps that I think will help to enhance my own perception of history and the struggle between power and liberty. Hopefully it catches on. I’ll probably have a small vignette to go along with some of the maps, some of the time. At least I … Continue reading Maps in History
From the New York Times: Scotland would have to renegotiate membership in the European Union and other international organizations if it votes for independence in a referendum next year, according to legal advice expected to be published Monday by the British government. Read the whole thing. A couple of thoughts: Wow, the British government published a report … Continue reading Scotland and Secession
