After the Neocons

Francis Fukuyama
After the Neocons

Fukuyama does his best to show how neoconservatism was used incorrectly by the Bush administration. It is unlikely they understood neoconservatism at all.

The beginning of the book is actually very interesting as Fukuyama goes through the different people who have formulated neoconservatism. It is informative for anyone who doesn't know that much about neoconservatism.

The rest of the book is about Fukuyama's ideas how to improve the international system.

The United Nations is an ineffective organisation that gives the podium to various dictators. There is not much one can do to save the organisation. NATO, on the other hand, is better because its members are liberal democracies. All that is needed to improve the organisation is to make changes in its decision making mechanisms.

Fukuyama is rightly critical of international organisations. However, as he points out the Bush administration and its neoconservative supporters were hostile towards international organisations. But the Bush administration did not offer any options how to improve the situation. Which obviously is not a helpful attitude.

Fukuyama also has this radical idea that development might be a better option than to blast problems away with high explosives. Indeed, why not try to use diplomacy and developmet and try to help less developed states in the road towards democracy.

George Sand and Islam

On the 28 Sptember the AEC had a lecture on George Sand and also about the influence Islam has on Somali society.

Sand lived at a time when Europe was living the Romantic Era.

She was a controversial figure at the time as she used a man's name and dressed in mens clothing. Obviously these days no one would pay any attention to this side of her personality.

Sand was critical of the fact that it was all right for men to have lovers but not women. She fought this double standard by having lovers while married.

Sand's career can be divided into three parts:
1. 1830s was her Romantic period.
2. 1840s saw her as a social commentator on various themes.
3. From 1840s until her death she wrote about life in the countryside.

The lecturer on Islam told that it is difficult to cover all sides of a religion in one lecture, and he was right. So here are only some interesting bits.

Apparetly the Quran in Arabic is memorised even though few people in Somalia understand Arabic. This leads to the situation where people can recite Quran but they have no idea what they are talking about. In mosques there are people who have a better understanding of Quran and actually know what the book says.

The Somali state had a tight control over religion. When the civil war began, Somalis started to move into countries that have freedom of religion. That is why Somalis seem to be more religious outside Somalia than they were when living in Somalia, according to the lecturer.