In our last discussion, the issue of sovereignty that was brought up by Venezuela was certainly one of the most interesting points. It had struck me as a bit odd that McDonalds had been invited to a development conference, but I figured it makes sense, because we have SO MUCH MONEY. Even without sovereignty, we [I am from now on referring to McDonalds as “we”] have the means and global reach (money, 31,000 franchises, and 390,000 employees worldwide) to affect real change and make a difference in the economic development of countries. Without any sort of recognized or official sovereignty, the corporation is still able to conduct things to its liking all over the world. This made me realize that the world of “Snow Crash” might not be as unlikely as I had previously posited in my blog.
Though I stand by what I said earlier that the government will not quickly or willingly be demoted to the dead-end FedLand, the franchising of everything really isn’t that hard to imagine. Corporations are already granted a pseudo –sovereignty, sitting at the table of conferences with the World Bank, EU, India, Venezuela, and Japan. Governments turn to private defense contractors and mercenaries. It is easy to foresee a world in which corporations establish a type of sovereignty with nations and gain more and more power. After all, money makes the world go round, and we at McDonalds sure have a lot of it.
This is probably a good place to mention what an excellent class and semester it has been. In the lens of world politics, either a lot has been going on lately, or I've just been largely unaware of things since coming here. I suspect it's a fair bit of both. Here's hoping that our impassioned hallway/bathroom debates continue, and that the next semester turns out just as well.
1 comment:
I've had the same thought, Bubb Rubb... just how ignorant of politics was I before I came to AU? At home I always felt like I knew what was going on in the world at least to some extent because I would watch the Daily Show every night... and in comparison with my friends back home I was a news junky haha. However, since I've been here I realize that I was completely unaware of so many things because in comparison with everyone here (especially in our UC), I knew little to nothing about world politics. That was a blow to my confidence for sure, but being in this class has boosted that confidence up a little higher because I think I have learned a great deal about world politics, especially from my classmates/neighbors. I agree, hopefully we will continue to have these discussions on L7 or else I may revert back to my politically ignorant ways and I wouldn't want that!
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