Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Chestnut Roasting on an Open Fire

Economic sanctions? Of course. I mean, first of all, I feel like we’ve debated this about a thousand times, mainly because it is a classic topic. The relationships between countries are an open area of discussion insofar as, while there are plenty of opinions of what can and should be done, there is no accepted body of lore containing a canon of ethical opinions as a starting point. I mean, we can discuss personal liberty from a starting point of utility or deontology or whatever, drawing on a relatively small number of classical sources with which most LD people are reasonably familiar. But when you move away from individuals and their own society to two or more societies, there is no solid Kant or Mill or Rawls or whatever—universally accepted theorists or theories, in other words—to start you off. The thing is, political actions among states are a special interest, so to speak. They only affect citizens in proportion to the nature and especially the power of our state. It makes a big difference if you’re a sanctioner or a sanctionee, for instance. It makes a big difference if your nation is rich or poor. It makes a big difference if you’re talking democracies or dictatorships (on either side). General principles in this ever-changing arena are few and far between mostly because there isn’t really a lot of hoo-ha between nations in the first place on which to base analysis. Either they trade, or they don’t, and if they do, they simply exchange goods to mutual advantage, and if they don’t, they don’t pay much attention to each other. That’s because of the nature of states in the first place. States exist because they are, to some degree, self-sufficient culturally and economically. When they do pay attention to each other, aside from normal trade relations, it’s because of issues aside from trade (or despite trade) that are usually unique, or at least do not point to universal truths about humanity as a whole. Since ethicists are usually looking to understand universal truths about humanity as a whole (if any), they don’t bother much with seeking universal truths about cultures. I mean, North Korea does not equal Iran. Their histories are radically different, their cultures are radically different, their economies are radically different, their politics are radically different. Their only similarities are that they are dictatorships (in practice), and they use the realm of nuclear weaponry to deal with other nations. I guess you could say that they both do it to overcome their otherwise weak military positions (which is the point of nuclear acquisition in the first place), but that’s not so much a great equalizer as simply a coincidence. It doesn’t make them, or their intentions, similar. And the classic sanctions against South Africa during apartheid were yet another story altogether.

Connecting the dots of Brownian motion is, in other words, a mug’s game.

It’s a mug’s game I like, however. I’ve always been a fan of resolutions about multiple nations precisely because the topics usually do not clearly boil to a set area any more than the overarching question of sovereignty boils down clearly. You can go a lot of ways with it, and given that we’ll be talking about this topic for virtually the rest of the season, that is a good thing. I took a peak over at LDdebate.org and found, I’m happy to say, relative acceptance (although, of course, the initial reaction, as always, is to drag out the tired old one-size-fits-all tactical guns, but that’s what debaters do, and I should be used to it by now). Step number one is to look at who is sanctioning whom, just to get a feel for it. Go beyond the obvious (the three I’ve mentioned above). Since you don’t have a body of lore (except for whatever half-assed commentators you’ve clipped over the years, none of whom are really acknowledged fonts of accepted wisdom), you’ll have to do some thinking for yourself. If you want to win, that is. You can, if you are so inclined, run the tired old same old, if you want. If you don’t mind judges using your round to catch a few Zs, that is.

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