Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Well after the glorious revolution I have to ask myself did any good come from that previous corrupt, power ridden, bourgeoisie regime? Perhaps……

I did learn quite a lot about the major schools of thought that went beyond the basics I learned in world politics. Jesse taught me to not just look at the situation, but to critique it. I learned about all of the different critical theories (I think there might have been something about them in world politics but I don’t remember much). I even brushed up on my Robert’s Rules of Order. Which leads to the next inevitable question……So what?

What good does Robert’s Rules of Order do me? Well probably not much since I don’t plan on being a congressman or going pro and declaring for the National Debate League Draft (Mel Kiper has to do something during those other 363 days of the year). So that leaves me with a lot of theory. I don’t at this point plan on being an academic, although that could change, so I don’t need theory to write papers and teach classes. So can it help in the real world? I think so, but not in the normal way. I look at IR theory as a self-fulfilling prophesy. I talked with PTJ at lunch about this the other week and since then I have been thinking a lot about it. If we teach people that states are only concerned with security and their relative gains, then when those people get out into the real world they are going to recommend military answers to a lot of problems (This is oversimplifying the situation, but I am trying to make a point). If we teach them that states can cooperate and IO help lower transaction costs, than those people are going to want to go to the UN with problems (once again oversimplified). Thus after learning all these different approaches to looking at the world I can now offer many different solutions to any question. I can see the military, diplomatic and revolutionary answer to many of the problems facing the world. And having lots of options to choose from is never a bad thing.

Matt Bank