Does everyone do a state history class in junior high or thereabouts?

Ohio State History. They might as well teach "The Geography of Cincinnati's Suburbs" for all the good it'll do you later in life.

The form of democracy that prevailed in core Western states in much of the post-war period was a form of compensatory democracy, distinguished, at least in part, by a diachronic understanding of democratic governance. Following Enlightenment beliefs that understanding history enabled humankind to better itself, democracy was seen, within the context of a process stretching back into society’s past, as the result of past improvements. Thus, liberal democracy was viewed as a means of continuing improvements into society’s future, part of the progress of civilisation.

This earlier conception of democracy was prepared to at least attempt to ameliorate the inequalities produced by market-society through mechanisms such as social welfare provisions. Democracy was understood to involve ‘social citizenship’, where citizens could expect to be ‘compensated’ by the state in areas where the market was deficient in providing what was necessary.

Since Thatcher and Reagan the discourse of compensatory democracy has gradually been supplanted by one of ‘protective’ democracy that ignores the idea that democracy might involve compensation for market failure, or that democratic citizenship might involve a social-welfare dimension. Rather, “...it is nothing but a logical requirement for the governance of inherently self-interested conflicting individuals who are assumed to be infinite desirers of their own private benefits. Its advocacy is based on the assumption that man is an infinite consumer, that his overriding motivation is to maximise the flow of satisfactions, or utilities, to himself from society, and that a national society is simply a collection of individuals”. Responsible government, even to the extent of responsibility to a democratic electorate, is needed for the protection of individuals and the promotion of the GNP, and for nothing more. [(Which is the way it was in the 19th century but lots less people had the vote)]

In contrast to the earlier diachronic understanding of democracy, this ‘protective’ view is an unambiguously synchronic one. In this understanding, democracy is reduced to a process that exists in a single moment in time. Protective democracy is characterised by a strict separation of the economic and political spheres, the former responding only to the logic of the market place, and the latter constrained to allowing that logic to proceed without interference.

The main difference, however, is that the earlier general understanding of the need to redress the deficiencies of the market has been taken over by one based on a limited agenda of ‘deficit reduction’ and ‘tax relief’ to be achieved through the inexorable reduction of the welfare state.

I sourced this to a working paper by Mark Neufeld, "Globalization and the Re-Definition of Democratic Governance", for anyone who wants to read the rest of it. It's pretty good. (And quoting it all gives me the longest meara ever!)

From that Der Spiegel article,

Germany's annual military budget is 23.4 billion Euros, and is fixed until 2006. But even if Schröder were to add 1.5 billion Euros to the budget of his defense minister, Struck,

This seems like counting pennies next to the $50 billion Bush added to our $322 billion defense budget after 9/11. Come on, Germany, the combined defense budget of the other 191 countries in the world will never catch up to America's if you don't start pulling your weight! (Who was that quote from: "We were in an arms race with the Soviet Union. Now, it seems, we are in an arms race with ourselves.")

[Lake Champlain] was classified as a Great Lake for a little while-- long enough to be the final answer on a friend's college Jeopardy appearance, not long enough to stay the correct answer by the time of broadcast.

I bet Alex Trebek got so many phone calls. I guess Jeopardy can only spend so long in reruns, huh? "I'll take 'World's Largest Economies' for $100, Alex. What was Japan?"

Dai Watkins! I was just thinking about you today while pondering this ZoeFinch thing with England. Really.

"I heard that monologue guy again, his name is Rush Limbo or something".

That is a classic tale.

From my own limited travels, though, I've really gained a different perspective on what "normal" is, in terms of material possessions and world picture and all that.

You know how Australia pays everyone to take a year of travel before college? (That's how I understood it from the Australian guy in the next airplane seat, anyway.) America should offer everybody to spend six months in Haiti or somewhere. My friend went to Haiti for Army training and she's a lot more content with how much she earns and owns now. It's an important perspective.

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I would love that! My HS did France, Germany and Rome trips and I think the drama kids had the chance to go to NY for a broadway play.

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You know how Australia pays everyone to take a year of travel before college? (That's how I understood it from the Australian guy in the next airplane seat, anyway.)

I am sceptical. Maybe an Australian can confirm or deny? It's very common in Britain to take a year out between school and university (to earn some money, travel, etc.) but nobody actually pays you for it. Which would be undeniably cool.

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If I turn out to have my head up my ass (excuse me, arse), I'm planning to blame it on the language barrier.

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Australian Aboriginals didn't get the vote until 1967.

Natives in Canada got the Federal vote in 1960, I believe. Quebec was the last province to grant them voting rights (1969).

Women got provincial votes in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1916 - though I must say I thought it was earlier in Manitoba, I know they were the first province. The rest of Canada in 1918. Except Quebec where women got the vote in 1940.

October 19, 1929 Canadian women were declared 'persons' under the law. Yay Kate Nelligan Emily Murphy!

You know, I don't know when (for example) Chinese men or black men got the right to vote. Hmm, to Google! Away!

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Hmmm - Japanese people were granted the right to vote in BC in 1949, I don't see anything more widespread. In 1955 Doukhobours got the federal vote.

That's all I see. Huh.

(edit) Wait - 1947 everyone but Japanese and Native Canadians got the right to vote. But they removed the right to vote from Doukhobours, Hutterites, and Mennonites unless they had served in the armed forces.

Whew.

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You know how Australia pays everyone to take a year of travel before college?

Nou, I only wish this was the case! I'm not sure who the guy on the plane with you was but he certainly wasn't Victorian and I honestly cannot think of anywhere in Australia that does this, if you mean that the Govt subsidises or funds this. If Angus or John or anyone knows differently?

Yes, that article and also this one,

• J Neufeld, ‘Thinking Ethically, Thinking Critically: International Ethics as Critique’, in M Lensu and JS Fritz (eds), Value Pluralism, Normative Theory and International Relations, London, Macmillan, 2000.

All my bookmarked sites and links and references are on disk because I only upgraded my computer from 486 to Pent 133 (yeah I know not that much of an improvement) a couple of months ago.

I could provide full list of cites but considering they ran at around 165 for the last paper I think it would be a slight overkill.

I will list the internet linked cites however,

CEOs Win, Workers Lose

Rise of Corporate Global Power

Bretton Woods Project

Global HR not on PMs agenda

The effect of IMF and WB on poverty

Decline of citizenship

short history of neo-liberalism

Citizenship & Carter of Incorporation

Is globalisation civilising, destructive, or feeble?

globalisation, oxford companion to politics

the revolt of developing nations

limits to social responsibility of business

What are journalists for?

Our allegiance - Australians or global citizens?

the latte revolution

global problems culture of capitalism

has income distribution really worsened in the south?

Globalisation, growth and poverty

World's scientists issue urgent warning

UNDP HDR 1999

UN HDR 2000

UN HDR 2001

Solidarity in a global age

Women's Entrepreneurship, Development and Gender in Enterprises

Whose WTO is it anyway?

WB & UN background reports

Demonstrators overrun Seattle

WTO Turmoil

Let them eat pollution!

Poll reflects triumph of apathy

corpwatch, money and politics

corpwatch, enron facts & figures

Corporate Gobalisation Fact Sheet

Does globalisation help the poor?

NGO coalition for an ICC

global trade watch

Philippine Unity statement

Please bear with me as some are a little antiquated and may no longer work. I'll go through them and edit.

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I'd love to see all the Buffistas' bookmark lists. I just swapped favourites folders with my brother last week and found some cool links. And I back mine up to disk too.

The effect of IMF and WB on poverty

Ooh, this is by William Easterly. His Elusive Quest for Growth was really interesting. I saved this to read this weekend.

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Germany's annual military budget is 23.4 billion Euros, and is fixed until 2006. But even if Schröder were to add 1.5 billion Euros to the budget of his defense minister, Struck,

This seems like counting pennies next to the $50 billion Bush added to our $322 billion defense budget after 9/11.

Only if you ignore the scale. Don’t compare to the entire US defense budget, compare to the defense budget of one single US state for a more reasonable analogy.

What 'ZoeFinch' "thing with England"?
England is a part of my home country.

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Don’t compare to the entire US defense budget, compare to the defense budget of one single US state for a more reasonable analogy.

Or compare defense spending as a proportion of GDP which is the only meaningful way.

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