I won’t lie, when informed on how each group in the class would be seated I glanced around and realized I was closest to the door. I could have darted into the room, jumped into a comfortable chair and claimed the rest of the “good table” for my fellow members of The A Team. I chose not to, it would have been selfish of me. How would a superpower act in this situation? Would the state choose itself or worry about how other states saw it?
As a class there were countless possibilities for dividing up the chairs. Still, with a plethora of choices we ended up using one that clearly favored some groups over the others. After everyone was settled in their place Professor Jackson asked why the class did not choose BA Baracus’ suggestion of one representative from each group arranging the room. Clearly, his idea appeared fair and would distribute the furniture more evenly throughout the room. A few people heard Baracus’ idea and seemed to agree. Why then was his idea ignored? Some campaigned for his idea amongst the chaos and outburst of possible solutions. Suddenly, the numbered papers were taken out- the possibility of an immediate solution was presented- the campaigning of Baracus’ and all other ideas put to an end. Is this sudden desperation for a solution and example of world politics or human nature?
I think I understand the metaphor in relating our blog groups to states. Despite the similarities, we cannot ignore that no matter what scenario the class is set up for we cannot ignore reality. We all get along, we all listen to Jackson, and the scenarios put in front of us are not that important- if we are chair-less we will survive. Baracus’ (and other’s) ideas were ignored not because they were wrong or bad but because all of us in the class were eager to find a solution, we wanted to enter the classroom to begin the next part of the lesson. In the reality of World Politics I wonder if states would stop standing up for themselves for the sake of solving a problem. I think not, states would have too much at risk. Whether the problem is over an economic, social, political, or security issue I would assume more is at stake than a comfy chair.
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2 comments:
To be honest, I think that if you had simply run into the room and claimed the best table before anyone else, that would have been the most realistic depiction of initial global interaction. Of course, states do much more than that nowadays, what with all the negotiations and political favors, but notice how quickly the world's players react once unclaimed resources are found. Look at the lengths Russia was willing to go to claim the North Pole once oil was found there.
Of course, had you run into the room and claimed the best resources, that would have looked ridiculous. Much like Russia.
Actually, I don't think you could have just run into the room and claimed the best table. Unless I'm mistaken, Professor Jackson said that no one was allowed to enter the room until we'd agreed how to divide up the resources.
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