Dear Reader,
The Budding Politician‘s first issue, entitled “The Comparative Politics of Human Concenrs,” is an academic project commenced with my undergraduate students. The purpose is to share the five best and original pieces of research that have emerged from at least one of my courses per term.
With this first issue of The Budding Politician, I introduce you to Abdulrahman Anlaar, Samantha Behling, Kris MacGregor, Lindsay Schneider, and Samuel Wilson. At the time of conducting and writing up their research, this issue’s five contributors were either first or second year students at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (Canada). All were students in my “Introduction to the Comparative Politics of Human Concerns” course (POLI 220) from January through April of 2010.
Organized around socio-political and economic clusters of human concerns, the course offered an introduction to comparative politics (CP). Politics describe those things of importance to the affairs of humans, usually concerning the affairs of the state or the city. The focal point of politics is always founded on people making decisions around topics of interest, security, and survival.
We commenced the course with an introduction to CP concepts. During this historical excursion close attention was given to the following: the moral foundations and political compass of humans; Aristotle’s philosophy of human affairs; how and why former British and Spanish colonies fought for independence, and their process of transformation and reconstruction post-liberation; CP after the Cold War; and CP’s relationship and relevance to globalization and international relations theory.
Thereafter we moved on to the following specific human concerns: violence, security, human rights, development, the human relationship to nature and land, health, forcibly displaced persons, reconciliation, conflict resolution, among others. These concerns were introduced and interpreted through interdisciplinary lenses. For example, the psychological moral roots of liberals and conservatives; the cultural politics of benevolence; the philosophy of the meaning of apologies; the relevance of power and dignity in economics; the role of the economy in politics; the multiple reasons why a group of people takes up arms and revolts; the different hermeneutical and epistemological understandings of security, rights, and power; the justifications of violence; among others.
The goal was to help students appreciate why it is that humans become political through comparing not only interests of specific groups of people, but also how a body of citizens around the world comes together to fulfill such concerns.
Though I received exellent papers for publication consideration in The Budding Politician, the five selected I feel were the best written and most effectively illustrated the spirit of the course. And, thus, I leave you with the politics of human concerns through the eyes of these budding politicians.
Sincerely,
- Julián Esteban Torres López -
The Budding Politician, Editor-in-Chief
Heavy Words, Director
Columnist for Heavy Words and Colombia Reports
Ph.D. candidate | Sessional Lecturer
Political Science | Latin American Studies
Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences
University of British Columbia Okanagan (Canada)
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CONTRIBUTORS
UBCO student of Political Science and Economics
The Budding Politician contributor
Article: “The case of prorogation: justified and legitimate?”
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UBCO student of English
The Budding Politician contributor
Article: “The art of helping: An analysis of Canada’s international assistance through the Canadian International Development Agency.”
UBCO student of Political Science and Economics
The Budding Politician contributor
Article: “Proximity, policy, and culture: Canada’s post-WWII relationship with the United States.”
UBCO student of Psychology and Political Science
The Budding Politician contributor
Article: “The religious war continuum: Northern Ireland and the Crusades.”
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UBCO student of PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics), French, and Spanish
The Budding Politician contributor
Article: “Exploring the democratic fulcrum: The socio-economic seesaw of communism and capitalism and the corresponding implications on information in media”
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Popularity: 10%
