I felt that the exercise in class on Friday was helpful in getting our group to think in a political mindset. It reinforced the notion that political will is brought to reality through hard bargaining and deal-spotting. It also reaffirmed the importance of forming tactical alliances in order to further goals, and of prioritizing one’s objectives. Unlike our American economy, where everything is available as long as someone has the dough, attaining an objective in the global political economy can often only be done by besting another power.
I was initially uncommitted to any certain type of candy, though I was leaning towards the dark chocolate. However, I was curious to see what the Rainbow Twizzlers were like, and after observing their unpopularity among my classmates, I decided they were my best option. I had little trouble obtaining five blue chips the first time around. The second time, I went after the Rainbow Twizzlers again, but my hopes of private enterprise were dashed when I could only get four of them. Instead, I threw my lot in with Bovice and Syd and split the earnings with them.
It’s hard to draw a historical similarity to this case. Our particular situation was highly regulated and featured set parameters under which we were forced to do business. Most real-world situations have been regulated under the shadow of military force, and only lately have the terms of international engagement been laid out. I suppose this kind of negotiation is more common among business deals, perhaps between private businesses and governments. Such a contest for control over a set amount of newly-available resources is not uncommon. Take, for example, the privatization of oil fields in Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. States like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan were in desperate need of cash, so instead of granting their resources to domestic companies, as Russia did, they auctioned off their state-owned fields to American, British, and Russian firms. There was much backroom negotiation for these contracts, and in the end, some companies won huge deals while others were left out. Our class came to similar results.
On a side note, this is our blog’s 100th post. We still refuse to accept the 110th Resolution of the U.N. General Assembly, and will continue to do so indefinitely. До свидания.
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If only countries had the same flexibility and outlook as you do, Antonio...oh wait then everyone would be dead. Never mind.
In the real world, certain commodities are in higher demand than others. With resources such as oil becoming more scarce, countries will be in more intense competition to secure those resources. This is perhaps the best case for the green project. By finding ways to replace our reliance on certain commodities, we will ensure that countries can function properly and exist without fear of depleting a necessary resource. Of course, as PTJ said, the world does not run on caramels and twizzlers.
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