Monday evening there was a reception for the man in charge of getting us money through the state department. I met up with Kristin and Ellen, and we headed over there together. It was a nice chance to meet some of the senior scholars, and the coordinators involved over here in Sofia.
They provided us with some excellent hors-d'oeuvres, as well as some rakia and wine. Rakia is a Bulgarian plum brandy and very strong. It is great for a night of Bulgarian folk dancing, but not for a night of social networking and mingling, so I stayed clear.
I tried to meet some of the other people, but I admit, I didn't do the best job. It all felt a little forced, and it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. However, the people there were truly interesting people, and I'm glad I met a couple of them; hopefully, a group of us will start a Bulgarian language study group. Kristin was doing a FANTASTIC job mingling, and even was jotting down information about the people she met. Now, why haven't I learned this skill? If I eventually work as a diplomat, I will have to do these things all the time. I better practice. Maybe I could take an etiquette class...
Anyways, the most interesting conversation I had was with a couple of the Bulgarian Fulbright coordinators. Somehow, we got onto the topic of politics, and it became this huge discussion. Apparently the current government is trying to cut down on the education budget, and these commissioners, of course, are educators. We ended up talking about the political situation in Bulgaria, and to what extent it is effective. In terms of political parties, it does not seem like there is any sort of true ideological backing for the party. All of the parties pretty much have the same agenda. Politics is kind of just a game, and people are fighting for the power, not for any sort of ideology. Then again, that isn't that much different than any other country.
However, I was curious about how close the average citizen felt to politics. In the US, there is a lot of political participation through various groups and organizations, and I was curious if it was similar in Bulgaria. According to what I've read, Bulgaria had a decent growth in the civil society since the fall of communism. However, it seems like it has a long way to go. From what I've witnessed, there is a pretty large gap between the elites and the common Bulgarian. Civil society is an important part of a stable and productive democracy, and hopefully it can grow and dispel some of the pessimism I feel in Bulgaria when talking about politics.
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Obama and Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov are Twins?
I thought this news article was hilarious: (From Novinite News)
Bulgarian Prime Minister Borisov and US President Obama shared a laugh as they appeared to be wearing the same outfits at a UN meeting. Photo by Council of Ministers
Bulgarian Prime Minister Borisov and US President Obama shared a laugh as they appeared to be wearing the same outfits at a UN meeting. Photo by Council of Ministers
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov had a funny encounter with US President Barack Obama at a UN meeting in New York as they turned out to be wearing the very similar clothes.
“We look absolutely the same, it was kind-of funny – a black suit, a blue tie, and a white shirt. We even share a laugh when we stood next to each other,” Borisov told journalists in NYC.
His “twin” meeting with American President Obama took place during the official dinner after the opening of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly.
“The happy news is that Obama knows Bulgaria very well. He believes that we are a reliable strategic partner. We just had a friendly conversation,” the Bulgarian Prime Minister explained.
It is unclear if the fact that he wore the same clothes as Obama was a pure coincidence but both state leaders changed their ties for the next UN reception in the evening.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A Soft Kind of Power
Sometimes, obviously, the United States can piss me off. It’s a great country, don’t get me wrong, but it makes mistakes. One of its biggest fallacies is its desire to transform states into democracies. The Democratic Peace Theory states that democracies do not go to war with each other. If every state was a liberal democracy, war could be abolished and, ideally, peace would reign. Of course, there are many factors that try to define if a state is a democracy, if other states perceive it as democratic, and what exactly the definition of war is. Nevertheless, empirical evidence has shown that liberal democracies tend to live peacefully. (Unless, of course, you count World War II, in which Hitler was elected democratically, but it can be argued that immediately afterwards, it’s liberal values were completely demolished)
That was a little off topic, but what I’m trying to get at is that in order to promote peace, the United States supports liberal values, especially free markets. In order to create such democracies in typically non-democratic regimes, however, the United States has had to use force at times. If you look at the War in Iraq (I’ll try to be objective) the US has used force to stop Saddam Hussein’s regime and establish a democracy within a previous dictatorship. Regardless of the horrors that Hussein committed, and the fact that we originally lied about our intent, it needs to be questioned whether or not it was a democratic to try and enforce democracy. The force that was used to establish a pseudo-democracy in Iraq was hard power, and though it had its benefits, mainly quick action, it also involves the death of US soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Furthermore, the war continues with no end in sight.
Soft power is a lot more appealing to me. It gives people the resources and the information to choose their own destiny. Rather than directly interfering with the affairs of a foreign state, you can provide information and education, which may end in peaceful regime changes from the bottom up. RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty, or RFE/RL, is one such organization that uses soft power to give societies the ability to embrace liberal values. RFE originally was established during the Cold War to provide states within the Soviet Bloc objective information about not only domestic affairs, but also international news. Broadcasting from Germany, it acted as a way to allow individuals who would like to hear equal and fair news the ability to find information that they could trust was not being filtered by the government. Although success of such soft power is hard to determine, it could have had an effect on the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
After 1989 and the transition to democracy in the ex-Soviet countries, RFE needed to find a new purpose; funded by the United States, some Senators wanted to use tax dollars elsewhere while others looked to extend its purpose to other arenas. RadioLiberty was created, and it continues to be broadcast in states that suffer from totalitarian regimes. To save money, the station was moved to Prague, and we were lucky to tour the site on Tuesday. The organization completely fascinates me. I’ve always had somewhat distrust in enforcing one’s ideologies upon another, but providing factual information, particularly domestic news, can create a bottom up change in repressive institutions. Of course, it has its difficulties. It can be hard to get a radio signal into a country whose dictator does not necessarily want such information being broadcasted. It does seem to have some success. I know I sound kind of like a poster boy, but if you want to read more about the organization, its website is www.rferl.org. Maybe I can get an internship there...
That was a little off topic, but what I’m trying to get at is that in order to promote peace, the United States supports liberal values, especially free markets. In order to create such democracies in typically non-democratic regimes, however, the United States has had to use force at times. If you look at the War in Iraq (I’ll try to be objective) the US has used force to stop Saddam Hussein’s regime and establish a democracy within a previous dictatorship. Regardless of the horrors that Hussein committed, and the fact that we originally lied about our intent, it needs to be questioned whether or not it was a democratic to try and enforce democracy. The force that was used to establish a pseudo-democracy in Iraq was hard power, and though it had its benefits, mainly quick action, it also involves the death of US soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Furthermore, the war continues with no end in sight.
Soft power is a lot more appealing to me. It gives people the resources and the information to choose their own destiny. Rather than directly interfering with the affairs of a foreign state, you can provide information and education, which may end in peaceful regime changes from the bottom up. RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty, or RFE/RL, is one such organization that uses soft power to give societies the ability to embrace liberal values. RFE originally was established during the Cold War to provide states within the Soviet Bloc objective information about not only domestic affairs, but also international news. Broadcasting from Germany, it acted as a way to allow individuals who would like to hear equal and fair news the ability to find information that they could trust was not being filtered by the government. Although success of such soft power is hard to determine, it could have had an effect on the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
After 1989 and the transition to democracy in the ex-Soviet countries, RFE needed to find a new purpose; funded by the United States, some Senators wanted to use tax dollars elsewhere while others looked to extend its purpose to other arenas. RadioLiberty was created, and it continues to be broadcast in states that suffer from totalitarian regimes. To save money, the station was moved to Prague, and we were lucky to tour the site on Tuesday. The organization completely fascinates me. I’ve always had somewhat distrust in enforcing one’s ideologies upon another, but providing factual information, particularly domestic news, can create a bottom up change in repressive institutions. Of course, it has its difficulties. It can be hard to get a radio signal into a country whose dictator does not necessarily want such information being broadcasted. It does seem to have some success. I know I sound kind of like a poster boy, but if you want to read more about the organization, its website is www.rferl.org. Maybe I can get an internship there...
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