Universal Political Frameworks

I've been thinking about liberal democracy both during and after the Cold War. We had a competing framework in Communism. Ever since the end of the Cold War we've had a lot of assertions about the new global order from the "End of History" where it is stated that liberal democracy has "won" to more focus on civilizational and cultural conflict. Political Islam, especially the wave of Salafism that is growing popular, is usually cited as a cultural conflict. Why is this? It is a religion, yes, but it is pretty independent of many regional cultures, just like liberal democracy and it ends up steering culture in certain ways, just as liberal democracy does. Why then isn't political Islam looked at as a competing universal framework to liberal democracy for analysis reasons? It is used by many groups to write and evaluate constitutions. I'm not saying I'd prefer it to liberal democracy, not in the least, but empirically speaking, it does seem to be appropriate. This is just a thought I had while writing on political Islam for one of my papers, so it's just a nugget at the moment. I think I will develop it for something more substantial later on though. It may be more useful when comparing Islamic separatism in differing cultural regions.

Khmer Romance

Picture 001
Originally uploaded by pep7890.

A good friend of mine just recently got married in Cambodia. He's back here now, but his wife is waiting to be able to enter the country. It'll probably be a year until she gets here... Check out his photo stream on Flickr. I'm hoping to eventually visit Cambodia with him.

Yet Another Grad Student's Blog

I'm a grad student at American University's School of International Service. I've started this as a spot where I can post my ideas on international politics. I won't be posting regularly; just as the mood takes me.