The purpose of the blog is to explore the structures in ideas and ideologies, how they influence local and global events, and are themselves influenced. I do not intend it as a news-commentary blog. There are enough of those. Instead, I want to step back and look at bigger pictures.
That does not mean that I will not comment on current events. However, I intend to do so only as those current event illustrate broader points.
As an international studies/affairs scholar, I’ve read, studied, and thought about a large range of global and interconnected human dynamics. I have developed my own ideas and opinions about things. I do not think of them as an ideology, but simply an approach for thinking about those human dynamics. That approach attempts to be well-rounded without being holistic. Holistic thinking is frequently incomplete.
The purpose of the approach is to prompt thinking about human developments from social, economic, political and cultural dimensions. Since I still hope to publish the underlying framework of this approach in a journal article, I will not be detailing that approach on this blog. I will just be using it as I discuss related phenomena.
I also have my own values. Some might call them socialist, since I think that the needs of the lower- and middle-class many outweigh the needs of the wealthy few. Some might call them liberal, since I also believe in reasonable protections of the few against the unreasonable demands of the many. This includes the social and economic spheres of life. At the time of writing, I already have a blog post drafted in defense of nationalism, so I suppose I am a nationalist too. At the same time, I am clearly a globalist, given that I think there are real global problems that nation-states need to attend to, above their myopic interests.
Ultimately, I don’t think any ideology has magic answers, and the best option is to muddle through imperfectly towards greater goals. However, there are better and worse ways to muddle through. The best way that we can muddle through is by having as many people inclined to think about these things have the tools to do so, and the reminder to consider multiple angles.
I hope that this blog can serve as being part of the debate that helps us do that muddling through. I also just want a larger audience for my observations. I think these observations have something to contribute. Hopefully, the marketplace of ideas agrees.
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