Peacekeepers’ withdrawal from Somalia – A Somali Success Story or a new lifeline for Global Terrorism

Peacekeepers’ withdrawal from Somalia –

A Somali Success Story or a new lifeline for Global Terrorism

Public Lecture - RL Vol XI No CCCXIII, MMXVII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Abstract

Somalia has been labelled a failed state since 1991. The persistent threat from Somali Warlords, Islamic Courts and al Qeada & al-Shabaab had wreaked Somalia beyond repair. The international community’s response was to institute an active, regional peacekeeping mission. It is mandated to stabilise Somalia. Under its protection, in 2012, Somalia had its first presidential election since 1967. This year Parliament elected former PM Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, as president. The paper discusses the challenges posed by al-Shabaab, led mostly by foreign extremists that impose a foreign ideology brutally on the Somali people. It is the main threat to peace that AMISOM is fighting; in what has become al-Shabaab’s raison d’être. The presence of foreign troops has allowed it to flourish with its despotic pious decrees. Without a battle against peacekeepers to unite it, al-Shabaab would likely splinter into nationalist factions.

The move to increase martial power to AMISOM must resist the temptation to allow history to repeat itself. Instead, the leadership should negotiate with the moderate elements of the protagonists. The recommendations augur on a Strategy of Constructive Disengagement for international community, premises of Alternative Conflict Management (ACM) whose approaches derive from several factors that shape conflict management articulation of process and strategy - openness, political agency and ideology and identifying the root causes of the conflict. It argues for developing a culture of and constituency for peace in Somalia, building bridges between peoples, religious factions and the state and healing the wounds of war and displacement. In the end, we have seen how disastrous it is to rely exclusively on martial action to stabilise nations. The Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen military intervention has only produced mayhem on the local populace killing more than a million citizens and displacing half of their populations. Dialogue for peace with all stakeholders will finally prove that Somalia’s sheer un-governability is both its curse and its blessing.

Key words: Somalia, AMISOM, al-Shabaab, Alternative Conflict Management

See Lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/35444430/Peacekeepers_withdrawal_from_Somalia_-_A_Somali_Success_Story_or_a_new_lifeline_for_Global_Terrorism_RL_Vol_XI_No_CCCXIII_MMXVII

The Global Governance Architecture: Drifts in International Economic & Partnership

The Global Governance Architecture:

Drifts in International Economic &Partnership

The Bretton Woods Giants & BRICS (NDB & AIIB)

Public lecture RL Vol XI No XXVII, CXXIV, MMXVII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms

https://addisababa.academia.edu/CostyCostantinos

Abstract

The Bretton Woods Institutions are the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA in 1944. Their aims were to help rebuild the shattered post-war economy and to promote international economic cooperation. It was developed at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. It has been apparent since before the turn of the century that the post-World War II governance structures were untenable, because the assumptions that formed their foundation were beginning to crumble. Because of the challenges facing these institutions, the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors established an eminent persons group on global financial governance to make recommendations on how to reform the world economy’s institutional infrastructure.

Now, the world is now casting its eyes on Xiamen, the coastal city in China’s Fujian Province, as it just hosted the ninth BRICS Summit themed deepening the BRICS partnership and opening up a brighter future. Over the past decade, the BRICS bloc has transformed itself from a concept to an entity by strengthening dialogue, deepening cooperation and establishing the New Development Bank and Contingent Reserve Arrangement. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a new multilateral financial institution founded to bring countries together to address the daunting infrastructure needs across Asia. There are two issues important issues here. One is whether the BRICS or the G20 will ignore or substitute for the views of the G77 or larger bodies of developing countries whose voices are only too rarely heard in international policy discourse. The second is whether the BRICS countries’ dealings with other countries of the South are following desirable patterns or simply replicating North-South interaction.

Key words: BRICS, IMF, World Bank, China, NDB, AIIB,

See lecture here or https://www.academia.edu/35296389/Drifts_in_the_Global_Governance_Architecture_RL_Vol_XI_No_CCCXI_MMXVII.pdf

Artificial Intelligence, the Singularity, Critical Thinking & Policy Realisation

Artificial Intelligence, the 

Singularity, Critical Thinking & Policy Realisation

Policy Reflections in the Rarefied Ambience of Erudite & Jurisdictive Milieu

Public Lecture - RL Vol XI No XIII, CXXIII, MMXVII

Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD

Professor of Public Policy, School of Graduate Studies,

College of Business and Economics, AAU

Abstract

Habermas differentiates three primary generic cognitive areas in which human interest generates and interprets knowledge - termed knowledge constitutive, determining the mode of discovering knowledge as well as whether knowledge claims can be warranted. These areas define cognitive interests (learning domains) grounded in unique aspects of social existence -- work, interaction and power. Much of the historical-hermeneutic disciplines belong to the domain of the practical, while the emancipatory domain identifies self-knowledge or self-reflection - interest in the way one sees oneself, one’s roles and social expectations.

On the other hand, the 21st century will be dominated by algorithms, arguably the single most important concept in our world. Natural algorithms have ruled every century with life in it since Darwin discovered the fundamental algorithm of evolution. Out of that dumb process-logic, arises all the intelligence and complexity of all living systems. Algorithmic forces exist and exert their powers in systemic and relational ways; they are not driven by isolatable and intrinsic traits. They require sequential steps, built from iterative if-then-else logic, driven by richer information processes than physical forces. Closely associated with this is the Singularity, an era in which intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today. It heralds the dawning of a new civilization that will enable people to transcend biological limitations amplifying their creativity. It emerges from Artificial Intelligence that denotes electronic, digital, virtual or other non-biological and/or disembodied entities, which exhibit the function of intelligence.

Machine-learning systems excel at prediction and governments have much to gain from applying algorithms to public policy, but controversies loom. (The Economist, 2016). Nevertheless, what does such critical thinking, singularity, algorithmic forces  & artificial intelligence have to do with public policy - a legal, ethical & moral dispensation by the executive branch of government, but emerging from constitutional, legislative and administrative laws, vis-à-vis a class of issues in a manner consistent with institutional customs?

Key words: critical thinking, public policy, algorithm, singularity, artificial intelligence

See lecture here or  

https://www.academia.edu/35490358/Artificial_Intelligence_Heralds_Titanic_Prospects_for_Humankind_-_Public_Policy_Trajectories_Financing_Developing_and_Regulating_Artificial_Intelligence_to_ensure_Public_Safety_in_a_Terror-Ridden_World_RL_Vol_XI_No_CCCX_MMXVII