Will ‘Trumponomics’ Remodel Lives & the Souls of God's Creatures RL- CXXIV, MMXVI Vol. XI No. VII

Will ‘Trumponomics’ temper

the Souls of Americans & the ‘Rest’ of God’s Creatures?

Public Policy Lecture, RL- CXXIV, MMXVI Vol. XI No. VII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD,

Professor of Public Policy, School of Graduate Studies,

College of Business & Economics, AAU,

Abstract

          In every corner of the world, governments are failing to recognise the full implications of their policies, and experts are too confused, or inappropriately influenced, to provide clear and credible guidance. The result is a mixture of hubris and cluelessness that is consuming countries’ entire political establishments. America elected Trump, a political novice, self-promoter and gleeful provocateur, on Nov. 8 in one of the most extraordinary and unforeseen developments in American history.  There is more than an air of panic in the media and political circles about it. Today’s leading avatar of truthiness is, of course, Trump who has been rejected as deficient in emotional intelligence. Donald Trump, the man who promised Brexit times ten is now set to control the world's biggest economy. His public discourse consists of attacking or ridiculing a wide range of others: Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants, refugees whom he depicts either as threats or as objects of derision. By persuading his supporters to view themselves as part of a white nationalist movement, a claim about identity is supposed to solve the problem that many people’s interests are neglected. The populist phenomenon, wherever it is found, “rests on a toxic triad: denial of complexity, anti-pluralism, and a crooked version of representation”, and each facet must be addressed. While the rise of protectionism and anti-immigrant sentiment are widely believed to reflect stagnant incomes, widening inequality, structural unemployment and even excessive monetary easing, there are several reasons to question the link between populist politics and recent economic distress.

         Like it or not, Angela Merkel is now the main guardian of the norms, values, and institutions that make up the Atlantic alliance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s message of congratulations to a newly victorious President-elect Donald Trump was markedly unlike that of her European counterparts. Germany & America are bound by their values; democracy, freedom, the respect for the law and the dignity of human beings, independent of their origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political conviction; based on these values, I offer the future president close cooperation. It is economics, not culture that strikes at the heart of legitimacy; in other words, it is when the rewards of economic progress accrue mainly to the already wealthy that the disjunction between minority and majority cultural values becomes seriously destabilising. Trump ruthlessly exploited that disjunction, and, in doing so, obviously made a successful claim to represent people. In the world’s eyes, fear has trumped hope as the currency of American politics. In the world’s eyes, “America will never be the same again.

Key words: Trumponomics, Trade Agreements, Populism, Values, Immigrants

See talk here or https://www.academia.edu/30648152/Will_Trumponomics_temper_the_Souls_of_Americans_and_the_Rest_of_God_s_Creatures_RL-_CXXIV_MMXVI_Vol._XI_No._VII

Crises of ‘Fin-de-siècle’: Electoral Absolutism & Myth of Palingenetic Racist Determinism - CXXIV, MMXVI RL V. XI No IV

Crises of ‘Fin-de-siècle’:

Electoral Absolutism & Myth of Palingenetic Racist Determinism

Public Lecture, CXXIV, MMXVI RL V. XI No IV

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD,

Professor of Public Policy, School of Graduate Studies,

College of Business & Economics, AAU,

Abstract

            Africa has experienced multiple coups and counter coups for various economic, political and social reasons, with one-party states dominating since independence via elections floated to gain ostensible legitimacy. Indeed, the nineties saw a small number that had already made successful transition from military-affiliated regimes to pluriform institutions and practices. However, the consolidation of democracy involves founding sustainable institutions and political rules that guarantee political participation and competition. So far, only a few have satisfied even the minimal conditions set by the two-turnover test. Hence, the research questions augur on how and by whom are politics framed and the boundaries of palingenetic élite minority vs. the majority disparities set. What effects have such avant-garde ideas and practices on indigenous communities and cultures? Do powerful minorities capture polities in the very act of ‘determining’ palingenetic politics or are they subsumed by their caucuses’ own exclusive nationalistic schemata?

           Palingenetic ethno-nationalism augurs on a noxious negation of freethinking and conserva­tism, its nationalist despotic goals warm up to highly regulated economic structures to transform so­cial rela­tions within a modern, self-determined culture. It portends a fin-de-siècle political aesthetic of quixotic symbolism, social conscription, a positive view of sadism, masculinity and charismatic leadership. In literature, the fin-de-siècle outlook was influenced by Darwin, Wagner, Le Bon and the philosophies of Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky and Bergson. 

           Social Darwinism, which gained widespread ac­ceptance among the fin-de-siècle, conceived humans in an unceasing struggle of the survival of the fittest. Such élitist dogmas undergird the import of Africa’s incessant incumbent victories. Where the influence of the palingenetic élite impends over political processes, it is seldom unblemished whether such victories constitute ex­ten­sion of incumbent’s mandate or voter acquiescence to inevitable dominance, making the weight of consecutive elections unavoidably gloomier than the defining founding electoral competitions of the post-Soviet era.

Key words: pluralism, electoral absolutism, palingenetic nationalism, determinism

See lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/30597287/Crises_of_Fin-de-si%C3%A8cle_Electoral_Absolutism_and_Myth_of_Palingenetic_Racist_Determinism_-CXXIV_MMXVI_RL_V._XI_No_IV