Introduction and Overview

Introduction

“War is the continuation of politics by other means.”  Carl von Clausewitz (Prussian general and military theorist)

This course can be studied in isolation but is the natural progression from the ‘Democracy and Freedom’ Course.

In the ‘Democracy and Freedom’ course we begin with England in the ninth century from whence come our cultural and political values. We trace how those values led to the development of the Westminster system of Government and foundational constitutional developments such as Magna Carter that are still relevant to the free world today. Later the course examines how free trade agreements are used to overcome state sovereignty and transfer economic control to the largest multinational companies. The impact of hidden influencers such as the secret services is considered. Societal conflict between traditional and liberal views of humanity and nationhood are touched on. The course then considers contemporary mass social movements, and the importance of activism in shaping public attitudes; and goes on to examine the ‘who, how and why’ of terrorism.

The ‘International Conflict’ course picks up from there and moves to the international scene and consider what major forces are shaping international events.

Typically, in the media international events are presented in a disjointed random way – a war here, a terrorist attack there – but is there a coherent backstory? What are the main drivers behind international events? Do they fit into a coherent narrative? What is shaping and shaking the current world order?

This course will give you both the background information and the analytical tools to understand events as they take place. What you do with that understanding is up to you.

But first some warnings. Human beings are inherently unpredictable creatures. With all due respect to the conspiracy theorists and the academic theorists amongst us, there is too much chaos in the system for one grand explanation of everything.

Also, most people who speak and write in this space adhere to a particular ideology or political theory. Ideology and theory is to reality what toy trains are to real trains. They are an oversimplified model. They can help children to understand, but they are not reality.

Finally, we are herd animals. One way that we herd is to join ideological or value groups. These provide an echo chamber which reinforces the beliefs and prejudices of the group. In this way group identity is reinforced. So for example, if you strongly identify as a feminist you might support the election of Hillary Clinton. You will overlook evidence of lying and corruption and rampant war mongering, and it becomes very important to say bad things about Donald Trump because your group identity requires this. Similarly, if you strongly identify as a second amendment Republican it becomes very important to gloss over Trump’s blunders, forgive his failed marriages, and focus instead on the alleged criminal conduct of Hillary Clinton.

In this way of thinking, facts and evidence become weapons in people’s ideological conflicts rather than a guide to truth. Facts that contradict ideological assumptions, became assaults on identity. People fight to protect their identity; and this explains a lot of the plain nastiness that you find in politics and social media. It also explains why many people deny obvious truths.

In this course we will approach truth as adults, ‘putting away childish things’ and attempt to deal with the real world as it is.

In this course we will consider four major trends that are currently impacting the world order. They are:

1. The pursuit by the United States of America for full spectrum dominance and global hegemony
2. The pursuit by China of secure global resources
3. Russia’s pursuit of national survival and its return to traditional values
4. The global corporatist agenda to reshape the world for capital