Search

Notwithstanding the billions of dollars spent to promote digital equality, until governmental policies are enacted both to encourage and to facilitate such an ideal, the effort is going to flounder along less effectively than intended or needed. Governmental policies not only establish the conditions for such an effort, but they also provide tangible proof of the commitment of the nation, and its political elite, to the effort.Two cases demonstrate the result of just such policies: the Internet?s open network architecture and the United States? current state of digital access and literacy. Governmental public policy has consciously allowed the system to develop to grant the widest distribution of information to the greatest number of people through easy access to the system.In the case of the open network architecture, public policy allowed the system to develop to grant the widest distribution of information to the greatest number of people through easy access to the system. The growth and vitality of the Internet demonstrates that commonality of vision can make a decentralized process more efficient and effective and also underscores government investment as a catalyst for private investment in both the demand and supply sides of the information infrastructure.With respect to the U.S.?s digital access, a conscious decision was made by government decision makers with a goal to provide a source of data that was equal with user-transparent access via public networks to network services provided by network-based and non-network enhanced service providers. The government encouraged the deployment of communications infrastructure that is general and flexible, removed regulatory barriers to innovation (e.g., making spectrum for experiments easily and predictably available) and to competition, and continues to foster the success of the Internet through R&D and delivery of public services.In each case, the Internet and the United States? national information infrastructure, as well as the envisioned global information infrastructure, governmental policies were instrumental in stimulating their creation and growth. In the same manner, policies of subnational governmental units are necessary to complement those of the national government if digital access is going to proliferate to as many people as possible. The state of Pennsylvania used governmental policies to both encourage the construction of the necessary infrastructure (Keystone Technology Plan: An Information Technology Blueprint For the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania), personal equipment (tax-free purchase days), and education (current PA proposal to provide laptop computers for classrooms). Without these policies, the phenomena of relatively universal digital access more than likely would still have come into being and grown, but not at the same rate, as effectively, or in the same manner. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents a model of ethnic conflict that attempts to satisfy the criteria of comprehensiveness, persuasiveness, and coherence. The attribute of actions posited to be most instrumental in provoking conflict and to be common to proximate causes is exclusion. Conflict is made more likely by any of a host of actions that attempt to exclude or separate an out-group from some manner of resource. The author describes a crude typology of exclusionary actions and examines: (1) one of the more extreme forms of exclusionary action, ethnic murder, and its connection to group mobilization for conflict; (2) various factors that may condition relationships between exclusionary actions and conflict mobilization including: states of inequality; declining economic conditions; cultural values; dissolution of empires; contagion from past and surrounding conflicts; demonization; and factors that incline elites to engage in exclusionary actions; and (3) the consistency of the model with emerging biologically-based understandings of human nature. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History is our repository of information about the past, and, as such, offers explanations about the present. As a repository it has the special capacity to reveal the hidden facts of injustice. More indirectly, history is critical to the creation of ethnic groups and nations, given that shared past experience, or the perception of shared past experience, is the strongest rationale for the existence of the group. In addition, history texts, monuments, museums and other forms of public history provide a sense of stability and tradition that assist the legitimation of the existing regime. Beyond their role in group creation and legitimation, history and memory provide material for group myths that are a source of social cohesion because they supply operational codes and a system of ethics. Finally, history and memory are the containers for grievance. If grievances are not addressed, they can be a powerful tool of mobilization by political leaders. The capacity of historical memory to coalesce politicized groups cannot be understood fully without recognizing that simultaneously, historical memories play several critical roles in the lives of individuals. History is a way of recording and remembering traumas of past generations that have an emotional or physiological impact, and possibly a material impact, on their descendants. Trauma that has affected groups is repeatedly relived by the group, contributing to group identity while creating an ongoing sense of victimization. Because of the individual?s biological dependence on the group that supports it, the individual will identify with the group in order to receive what is offered to group members, absorbing cultural elements and a shared sense of the past. In addition, in the process of developing a consistent sense of self, people use historical material to select mental constructs by which to connect inner and outer experience. ..ASA-For all the above reasons, historical memories are deeply rooted in a society and are tenacious. Introducing a different history means challenging psychological and sociological patterns that are of long duration. The instrumental purposes historical memories serve society suggest that contentious history cannot be separated from politics and power relations. To the degree that the political life of a society remains contested, historical memory will be intertwined with that contestation. And yet the need to address the problem of contentious, chauvinist history is crucial for post-conflict reconstruction and the prevention of future conflict. Devotion to ?the truth? is a core aspect of a society?s dedication to justice, even if all acknowledge the difficulties in reaching ?the truth?. Establishing a basis of historical truth in a society places some limit on the possibilities for chauvinist leaders to distort the truth for political ends. A culture of historical debate makes it more likely that past injustices will be brought to light and will be addressed. Acknowledgement of the traumas of the past are a first step in mourning and are essential for individuals and the society as a whole to find healing and move forward. All these processes will assist in the development of a new narrative. At the same time, a rethinking of the past can enable intercultural understanding by helping groups remove their negative stereotypes and accept the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical concepts of culture plurality and identity in various disciplines - psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology etc. Theoretical synthese of these approaches and its application into international relations theory and practice. Value paradigm as a main methodological principle of cultural plurality study and its utilization in interpretation of practical problems of contemporary international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]