Amid reports of the bombing on the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan, I started thinking more about just how completely devastated that country is. It is quite possibly worse off than Iraq. At least Iraq gets more American attention. Afghanistan is just screwed, there is little hope for reconstruction as long as the US has to concentrate all its efforts in Iraq.
Corruption is rampant, and no one in the international community really seems at all motivated to do anything about it. The people most effected and the most motivated are powerless.
Peacebuilding is a lot more than negotiating cease fires and I hope the next administration starts sending more experts into those areas that need it the most and ease up a bit (or a lot, hopefully) on the military aid.
Come on, Obama. I've got one more semester. Give me a job. Preferably in December.*
*Of course, I'm not proposing entry level Peace Studies undergrads get sent off to random F@cked-up-istans. But at least start moving them in that direction.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Afghanistan Should Motivate You to Hire Me
Posted by The Odalisque at 3:41 PM
Labels: afghanistan, barack obama, peacebuilding
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2 comments:
I have often wondered (and often with a certain comic derision), what are the goals and content of a Peace Studies curriculum?
Its actually a lot less fluffy than you'd think. At AU, the curriculum focuses on the causes of conflict and what prolongs it, how to use the values and traditions of the cultures and faiths involved in order to build a sustainable peace and the different dimensions involved in sustaining peace (economics, social justice, political freedom, etc). You can read more about AU's program from their website, http://www.aupeace.org/ourprogram/main.
Frequently, the projects in my classes are simulations. Like, imagine you're a poor country that has recently been ravaged by war. You've been given x number of aid dollars, what do you do with it? Or, you're Kurdish leaders trying to plan out your strategy for dealing with the other groups in Iraq for the next year.
Its way challenging but way worth it.
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