tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324635185045880860.post7285833815356405905..comments2013-02-01T07:00:08.810-08:00Comments on Long Story Short: War and Peace, and the path betweenMichelle D'Arcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17296631232306684509noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324635185045880860.post-10284090554167526882009-01-31T08:40:00.000-08:002009-01-31T08:40:00.000-08:00This week I came across an interesting insight in ...This week I came across an interesting insight in an article on how social capital is created. It cited research from game theory that showed that, if all the players are rational opportunity maximizers it is almost impossible for the 'cooperate-cooperate' strategy to emerge. Now, I'm not very offey with the details of game theory and have, regardless of this ignorance, been very dismissive of it in the past but it would seem to me that this must be correct: when, structurally, the incentives are stacked up against cooperation it takes an extraordinary individual, acting outside of ordinary 'rational' motivations to change the game. They can then of course change the incentive structure so that it rewards a different kind of behaviour, but to change from one set of incentives to another, you need someone to act against their interests. Again, it would seem to me that John Hume was one such person as he effectively sacrificed the SDLP for the peace process. Jenny - I think this is both a challenge to the weight we place on socio-economic structures and an endorsement of the quest to get beyond the 'rational actor' as the basis of social science enquiry.Michelle D'Arcyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17296631232306684509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324635185045880860.post-87886520958640612742009-01-21T09:58:00.000-08:002009-01-21T09:58:00.000-08:00On the subject of brave individuals, I just wanted...On the subject of brave individuals, I just wanted to note a quote from one of the bravest (in the context of Northern Ireland) - John Hume, who sacrificed his party for the sake of peace;<BR/><BR/>'You do not make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies. And in the end there is really no such thing as territory, there are only people'.Michelle D'Arcyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17296631232306684509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324635185045880860.post-12588010121999154252009-01-06T13:01:00.000-08:002009-01-06T13:01:00.000-08:00In addition to the points included in this blog I ...In addition to the points included in this blog I would like to add the necessity for brave individuals. People willing able and determined to show exceptional courage and take risks for peace, often at great threat to their personal safety, always in opposition to the prevailing orthodoxy and sometimes against their own or the organisation they represents better interest.<BR/><BR/>In Northern Ireland there have been a lot of such individuals. Fr Alex Read who was the first 'go between' the Govt and Provisional IRA; John Hume when by talking to Gerry Adams when no one else would he legitimised the political party Sinn Fein that has since over taken his own party the SDLP in popular support; former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald when he refused to ‘walk away’ when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher very publicly declared that every option the Irish Government was seeking was ‘out, out, out!! Loyalist paramilitary leader Gusty Spence who persuaded his followers to match the Provisional ceasefire; David Irvine who subsequently provided Loyalism with a credible political voice to name but a very few of the better know<BR/><BR/>In the current Middle East conflict it will be easy to judge who is taking risks for peace because so entrenched are both sides and so universal is the adherence to their respective positions in their public comments that it will be a brave person indeed who steps outside their respective ‘comfort zones’ of familiar positions and rhetoric that merely continue if not exacerbate the conflict and certainly don’t do anything to even nudge the situation towards a peaceful and lastingAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786067791772723444noreply@blogger.com