World Affairs Institute
Democracy as they say, is a good idea or you could argue the best out of the worst ideas available. I bias towards democracy as I was a market analyst and I did research to hear the voice of the people. My respect for citizens has come from deeply listening to their voices. I found wisdom as the middle ground and realised the public are not this dumbed down group, they do think about what is happening. They just feel powerless as they don’t feel their voice is really heard. If collecting data is for commercial interests, whilst I might be interested in listening my clients may just use the data to formulate marketing and business strategies to serve themselves. My interest is to serve people as I care. This is all people, not one group against another, but to help people recognise that they live in community with others who they may like or not. They are not on separate islands of automation but their decisions impact others as we are highly interconnected. This dumbing down is actually happening in organisations, government and individuals who hold on to ideas without the lived experience of actually finding out differing perspectives. They regard any dissent as affecting the brand image rather than differentiating and putting themselves in a marketing position of being open to all voices. Thus using different views to promote openness. People tend to gravitate to those like minded or in the club not contrasting views as they feel uncomfortable being challenged, as we all do. I would advise to learn to be okay with diverse ideas, learn to respect alternate opinions as this may well be the very experience (doorway) that leads you to what you truly want. Life is intelligent. Fortunately I am not afraid of listening to those who see a different world and are run by self interest (as we all are to varying extents). I am open to them but we have to find a middle ground so all can coexist peacefully. It is counter productive to ignore people, shun them or demonise them as a perceived risk is used to justify negative behaviours. From my marketing background one dissatisfied person tells 30 more. It is practical to resolve conflict as perceived risks are heightened due to failing to solve problems. What is feared often is attracted in the form of escalated disputation. This is why democracy as a lived philosophy in a community works better than totalitarianism or intolerant control paradigms which only end up having to deal with angry voices, complaints, protests and possibly revolution if the abuses are too violent. We are in a global village, all are watching what is going on.
Thus, democracy is not just an ideological position it is a framework to enable those who are differ to be heard with respect. It is not a Western notion, it is common sense when you deal with diversity you have to be able to communicate with diversity without forcing a view or hating the other. People for the most part are very amenable and open to different views when they truly feel heard, if they are treated with contempt they will respond.
I see conflicts unfold around the world and I know they have not communicated with respect for each other or understood the culture. They come at the conflict from righteous perspectives, unquestioned and fighting for some ideal that you cannot fight for. They have believed group think, they have believed their way is the only way and they have seen an enemy. Then other people, typically civilians, get caught up in the violence that is used to scare off the so called enemy but with destructive consequences that are not in the public interest.
I am not interested in the wars of the mind, I am interested in the solutions of the heart. Democracy is a step on the way to unity consciousness. When we get there we will laugh and shake our heads at how self defeating we were.
Anyway, another perspective from a global think tank.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Affairs_Institute
World Affairs Institute
World Affairs Institute (WAI) is a nonprofit organization established in 2010 and located in Washington, DC. The organization’s stated mission is to “promote democratic governance as well as public education, awareness, and dialogue on international affairs and security issues through publications and non-partisan public education activity.”[1] The president of World Affairs Institute is James S. Denton. WAI’s formative board includes James S. Denton, P.J. O’Rourke, and Alan Dye.
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World Affairs[edit]
WAI publishes World Affairs, a bimonthly print magazine established in 1837. The journal covers foreign policy and security issues. Its website provides essays from the print journal, as well as blogs and online features in addition to international news, opinion, and research that is aggregated from media, think tanks, and governments around the world.
Transatlantic Renewal Initiative[edit]
The Transatlantic Renewal Initiative (TRI) is a project of the World Affairs Institute (WAI), established in February 2014 with the stated purpose of supporting stronger ties between the United States and its allies in Europe and the promotion of “an international order based on rule of law, political and economic freedom, human rights, and the expansion of prosperity.”[1] The project states that its goal is “to re-center the importance of the [transatlantic] partnership and to reinvigorate ties between American policy and opinion leaders and their counterparts in Europe that have been frayed in the post-9/11 era while America and Europe were distracted by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the struggle against global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, economic upheaval and stagnation, China’s rise, and chaos in the Arab world.[1] At its launch the TRI stated that it planned to use seminars, fact-finding delegations, fellowships and scholarships, and other means to meet its goal of promoting “close and informed ties between the US and the EU/CEE,”[1] including participants from Russia, and Ukraine. The project is jointly funded by US and European private and government sources and lists Lorne Craner, James S. Denton, and Jeffrey Gedmin as its co-directors.[1]
MENA Democracy Fellows Program[edit]
In July 2011, WAI launched the MENA Democracy Fellows Program. The program was designed to support the democratic transition in Egypt and Tunisia as well as to promote better understanding, communications, and cooperation between the countries and the United States. The program awarded fellowships to emerging leaders from the region who actively promoted democratic governance or independent media in their countries. During the two-month fellowship program in the United States, the participants worked in the US Congress, think tanks, or media outlets. Formal advisers to the program included Members of Congress, experts, and journalists from the US and abroad, including Congressman David Dreier (R- CA; Chairman of the House Rules Committee) and Congressman John Larson (D- CT; Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus), Deborah Harding (former VP of the Soros Foundation), and journalists/experts, Alaa Al Aswany, Khaled Dawoud, Michele Dunne, former Ambassador Eric Edelman, Roya Hakakian, Tom Gjelten (NPR), Joshua Muravchik, Jim Sciutto, Nabil Shawkat, and Ambassador Michael Žantovský.