Interstellar Relations, Monday, 5th Period

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

The lights were dimmed as students entered the room and signed in. Professor Roslin sat at her desk, a laptop computer angled off to her right. The most immediately visible item, however, was the large plasma screen with the accompanying SmartBoard, illuminated behind her. Closer inspection showed that the image on the board was simply a larger version of her laptop screen. Several sheets of paper are on the desk, prepared for each student. On top is a copy of the syllabus.

She frowned a bit at the computer as it dinged loudly and tossed a few error messages her way, each one visible on the main screen. "Oh, stop that," she said quietly, clicking through them. Her eyes darted a glance at the clock. She quickly closed down one program, booting up another. A political map of the world flickered onto the screen.

Rising from her seat, she made her way to the front of the desk and removed her classes. She stood with her arms folded across her chest, weight resting against the forward edge of the desk, and legs crossed at the ankles. "Okay, today we're going to jump right into the basics: What is a state, and how do we define it? What is the difference between a state and a nation? Is there a difference?"

She took a few responses, pointing with an index finger at each person who raised their hand. "Okay, so as we can see, things are just a little intertwined -- that most states actually incorporate nations, and that many nations have either sought or won statehood. One of the questions you should be thinking about is where should the nation-state line stop? Should it? I know I mentioned it in our previous class, but it really begs repeating.

"Now that we've gotten that little bit out of the way, let's jump ahead a little to get a rundown of the government systems we're going to be looking at. What you should have found on your desk when you arrived are handouts, each one covering the various systems of interest to us."

Roslin moved to the front of the room as the students flipped through the documents. Included were handouts on the following government systems: Presidential Systems; Semi-Presidential Systems; Parliamentary Systems; Parliamentary/Constitutional Monarchy; Absolute Monarchy; Single-Party States and Military Dictatorships. At the front of the room, she picked up what looked like a marker, then returned her attention to the class.

"Interestingly enough, most of these are currently represented in nations here on Earth. What examples can you give me for each of these systems?" Tapping the screen with the marker, the white side of the screen filled in with a bulleted list of the systems. Roslin seemed very impressed that they actually showed up correctly. "Don't worry; we're not going to do every country on the map -- just a few examples. I hope you have all been paying attention to the world around you."

Nations filled in with various colors as they were mentioned in class. When it seemed the well had run dry, she pursed her lips. "Okay, so, let's see what it looks like, all filled in." She touched a small icon on the lower right of the screen, and the map suddenly filled in. "So what does this map represent? It represents a lot of different systems of government trying to do business together, in the international arena. The same principle can be applied" -- she tapped the screen again, this time the political map of the Earth, replaced with one of known sections of the universe, the colors corresponding with the Earth map -- "in a larger forum.

"Can any one hazard a guess why some of these systems don't get along? Take a peek at your handouts if you need to."

As the class discussed the various conflicts that might arise, Roslin made her way around the room. It was close to the end of class by the time she made it back to the front. She switched on all the lights as she passed the switch and then resumed her place leaning against the front of the desk. "Okay. One more boring lecture to get through, and then we get to have a little fun. Study your systems, paying close attention to the presidential and parliamentary systems. There may or may not be a quiz." Laura gave her best presidential smile as the bell rang to signal the end of class. "Go on; get out of here."



[Wait for the OCD, please! OCD up! Also, note: I'll be AFK till at least 6 PM EST.]

Comments

Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

...don't some of these systems get along?

Re: Why...

[the-right-ray.livejournal.com]

"Different religions, opinions, and ways of life," Ray said.

Re: Why...

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Don't you think it's more how tolerant they're willing to be of all of the above?" Parker wondered. "More than the actual differences, that is."

Re: Why...

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

"They could have a history of opposition that would carry over to the political systems they have today." Teddy said.

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

Nodding, Laura hovered nearby. "I understand that we can see examples of this in the current Middle Eastern conflicts," she commented. "Any other examples? It doesn't have to be quite as violent opposition."

Re: Why...

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

Teddy hesitated, trying and failing to think of non-violent opposition between countries. "England and Ireland?"

Re: Why...

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Because some of their political philosophies are in direct opposition," Luke said. "What would an absolute monarchy and a parliamentary democracy possibly have in common?"

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

"Well, they would have a few things in common. As a state, they would have many of the same responsibilities to their people -- governing, defending, sometimes providing for healthcare and other social needs. But you're right: differing ideologies plays a big role in conflicts.

"Can you think of any examples? Even pulling from your own experiences."

Re: Why...

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke snorted. "Back home there used to be a parliamentary democracy. The Empire kept the Senate around as a puppet organization for about twenty years before finally dissolving it. Now the regional governors--who answer only to the Emperor--run the entire galaxy." He tapped his pen against his desk. "Not everyone agrees with this new system."

Re: Why...

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

"They don't get along because some of them are to different from the other to ever exist side by side," Naomi replied, "each believes that they are the right form of government and believe that the other is wrong, as a result there is fighting and great political instibility,"

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

Laura nodded. "Which would pretty much explain the Terran Cold War -- warring ideologies in which a shot was never fired." She paused. "Well, at least between the hegemonic... Ah, at least between the two main contenders."

Re: Why...

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

"Democracies are subject to the whim of the people," Peter said. "Therefore they can be easily swayed by a demagogue or some such character. Since the people haven't been trained to rule, they can not necessarily see the outcome of their actions and may cause disputes or wars through ill-conceived actions."

Re: Why...

[notthehulk.livejournal.com]

"But just because someone has been trained to rule, doesn't mean that they'll do the right thing," Teddy said.

Re: Why...

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

"No, it doesn't," Peter replied. "But it also at least gives them the chance to do so. And a trained ruler is less likely to be swayed through propaganda or misinformation."

Re: Why...

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Because the systems are made up of people, and people make mistakes, and mistakes lead to conflict, and conflict leads to war. And that even works in the case of mechanical mistakes, you know, like the Cylons," Cally said. "It's not intrinsic to the systems, it's more intrinsic to life, really."

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

She regarded Cally with a twinkle in her eye, hidden mostly behind the glasses she had slipped back onto the bridge of her nose. "So, because humanity is part of a government, all governments are going to be prone to conflict?"

Re: Why...

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

"Even though that sounds kind of pessimistic? Yeah," Cally said. "I mean, even if they pretend to be getting along, governments are all 'but is Picon seeing someone behind my back' or 'Did Gemenon really say that my butt looks big' and petty stuff like that. And that leads to badness and conflict."

Re: Why...

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Resources," Isabel added. "There's a history of conflict over resources. And that's something that's only going to get worse as the years pass."

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

"And the scarcity of resources is usually affected by what factors?"

Re: Why...

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

"Geography primarily. It's a lot easier to get oil out of the desert then it is to drill for it 7,000 feet under the sea," Isabel said. "Or the country upriver has more control over what happens to the water supply."

Re: Why...

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Personalities, as much as dogma. Some of these systems are more amenable to a cult of personality than others are; some of them have imbalances that aren't tenable when taken to a larger scale, say country-wide," Parker said, frowning.

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

"Such as when dealing with a dictatorship." And here, she was not thinking about Baltar. Nope. Not in the slightest.

Re: Why...

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker nodded decisively. And no, she's not thinking of her father, or the oligarchy of the Tower, or Raines. Nope.

"Tito managed to keep the former Yugoslavia stable for forty years. But within a year of his death, the country began to fracture back into the different states and nations it had been previously. Without a single ideology, or unifying, agreed-upon system of government, the country had no reason to persist in its former state. All dictators die. If they're lucky, they die in bed, and someone else has to clean up the mess."

Re: Why...

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"Often power is the basis for many struggles," said Elizabeth. "There's a project called the Correlates of War that has collected data on many struggles to try and explain why states go to war and they use a tsystemic concentration of power formula to calculate the polarity of a power system. Bipolarity or multipolarity when relating to power in the world can cause spheres of influence to develop and in order to increase their sphere's of influence, this can sometimes create conflict. It was thought prior to World War I that balancing power blocs would create stability and reduce conflict, but that didn't really happen so much.

"Looking from the point of view of the Democracit Peace Theory, then conflict is more to do with non-democratically governmed states than democratic ones, who have been in statistically fewer wars over the last few centries.

"There's lots of theories, which can be historical, psychological, anthropological, sociological, economical and political in nature. International shame can also be looked at; it's believed that one of the contributing causes of World War II was Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which is commonly known as the "War Guilt" clause and states that Germany was entirely responsible for starting World War I."

Re: Why...

[hera-rises.livejournal.com]

Laura blinked a bit at Liz, then looked to the class. "What Elizabeth is alluding to is the theory that democracies are less likely to shoot at each other than, say, dictatorships and one-party systems.

"She's also referring to -- and she can correct me if I'm wrong -- a clause in the treaty which ended World War I, inserted by France and England, both of whom were feeling a bit vindictive. Germany was shouldered with the blame for World War I, and forced to make reparations to the other nations...Which, when combined with other internal issues, caused the collapse of the post-war republic, and the rise of a dictatorship." She raised her brows at Liz, silently inquiring if she remembered her readings correctly.