Week Six - Perspective and progress

Like many of my fellow classmates, my view concerning our debate was divided.  I am an optimist at heart (nod to DjsB’s blog post), and would like to believe that the international environment can fundamentally change.  The incremental strides that the international community has made toward peace reflect an improvement, and it is evident that our international institutions are attempting to nurture a sense of global cooperation in pursuit of fundamental change. 

But to say that the change we’ve witnessed reflects an enduring trend is to neglect the evolving relationships of international actors and institutions.  As Taylor pointed out in her blog post this week, we must first answer the question “what does the international environment currently look like” before we can address whether or not it can be remade.  Perspective in this case is key.  The international environment may look different to different actors at different times, and their opinion of “improvement” depends on their perspective.  The relationships that comprise cooperative action within the international environment are ephemeral.  Relationships are based on perceived interests, but these interests change and perceptions change.  History, rumors, studies of varying reliability and opinions often take precedence over fact and can greatly impact cooperative efforts, often to their detriment. 

Ultimately, I believe that in order for fundamental change to occur, an idea of what’s best for the global community must come before individual worldviews and parochial interests.  Differences in worldviews impact ideas of what needs to be changed in the international environment, decisions on how to change it, and ultimately, what is considered change.  These are the most rigid obstacles to overcome in order to achieve a mutual understanding of how best to achieve fundamental change.

These differences in our experience of the world and how we may perceive the same event has turned me into a critic regarding the possibility of fundamental international change, although an optimistic one.  In order for change to be experienced and recognized internationally, there will have to be an incredible amount of change for a very long time.  Small changes, and lots of them, will have to occur before fundamental change is recognized. 

There is no simple answer to the question we debated.  Change, in my opinion, is possible, and as we progress along the path toward fundamental international change there will likely be a number of hiccups along the way in the form of clashing ideas.