So this week has been full of
interesting readings, but a couple of things that really grabbed me were a
couple of comments Dr. Jackson made; one, an off-hand remark about Star Trek;
and two, the concept of billiard balls.
In the Star Trek example Dr. Jackson
holds up its supposedly utopian ideal of a unified world government, a system
of government moving past and ignoring sovereignty. Except… It’s the United
Federation of Planets i.e. planets either colonized by humans or who share
similar ideas and values with the humans they’ve come into contact with as this
federation has explored and expanded. In the Star Trek universe, there are
numerous other empires, independent planets, etc., who are themselves
sovereign. The concept of sovereignty still very much exists in the Star Trek
world, with various planets and empires vying for power, resources, and
influence and with no higher system controlling or governing them; its just
sovereignty at the intergalactic level, not the global. In fact, it seems to be
a much more Hobbesian existence than our world is at present. AS someone who
saw just about every series and season by virtue of a certain parent, I’m
confident that there isn’t a Star Trek equivalent of the UN, the IMF, the World
Bank, NATO, or any other international organization. Gene Rodenberry, and those
who kept the franchise alive after his death, were very much products of their
environment and conceived of a universe very much like the much smaller, single
planetary one they inhabit(ed). It would appear that even utopia is only based
on the ideas that we exist in.
Another, separate idea proposed in
the soliloquy is the idea of billiard balls, bouncing off each other at the
intersection of hard boundaries and autonomy.
The analogy is provided to describe the concept of sovereign states
unable to avoid each other in an anarchic world and being driven to war by
structure, not by choice (the billiard balls smacking in to each other). The problems
I had with the analogy are that 1) billiard balls don’t move independently and
2) the balls are static until something hits them. In reality, there is always
an outside force driving them towards each other, be it via cue, the side of
the table or a hand. Even when they aren’t moving, gravity holds them in place
on the table. In fact, some combination of those forces competing with each
other to determine where the billiard ball winds up after any given action. To
the second point, no country is in stasis while only one moves around.
Countries are continually moving, adjusting, tweaking or outright changing
polices, positions, and procedures and in some extreme cases, systems of
government, in response to or independently of the activities of other
countries and institutions. The example is well intentioned, but a little to
simple to describe the interactions of states and institutions with each other.
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