by Nikolai V. Shokhirev
<< Evolutionary theory of politics| Up (Popular science) | >> Can bureaucracy defeat terrorism?
| The ecological niche of an organism depends not only on where it lives but also on what it does. By analogy, it may be said that the habitat is the organism's "address", and the niche is its "profession", biologically speaking. | |
| Odum - Fundamentals of Ecology - W B Saunders 1959 |
In the wild world of politics some time ago there were two ecological niches:
the "Empire of Evil" and the "Empire of Good". In 1991 the
"Empire of Evil" collapsed. It is known that an ecological niche cannot be empty and
the "Empire of Good" is expanding to the empty spot. Let us
check this impression with Dr.Nikolai's metric chart.
| Features (In random order) | SU | US | Importance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil right restriction for the sake of national security | Y | Y | |
| Patriot act | Y 1 (See remarks below) | Y | |
| Spreading ideology by force | Y | Y | |
| Distrusts to its own citizens (including spying) | Y | Y | |
| "Big brother" syndrome (Total government control) | Y | Increasing | |
| Concentration of intelligence, counter-intelligence, secret services in one organization. | Y 2 | Y | |
| Racial/Ethnic profile | Y | Y | |
| Iron curtain | Y | Xenophobia is increasing | |
| Disrespect to the International Law | Y | Y | |
| Substitution of the law with the executive orders | Y | Y | |
| One-party system (all brunches of power are controlled by one party)6 | Y | Y 6 (almost) | |
| Suppression of local authorities by the central government | Y | Increasing | |
| Official lie or "truth for the masses" | Y 3 | Y | |
| Secret prisons | Y 4 | Y | |
| Special tribunals | Y 4 | Y | |
| Prisoner abuse | Y 4 | Y | |
| Ideological fundamentalism | Y | Y | |
| "Free speech" zones | Y5 | Y | |
| Politicization of science | Y | Y | |
| The Attorney General protects the government but not the citizens. | Y | Y | |
| The Attorney General support tortures. | N (Not publicly) | Y | |
| Add new items | |||
| 1 Not one act but a similar set of measures. | |||
| 2 "KGB" is the abbreviation of the Committee of Homeland/State Security. | |||
| 3 Grotesquely, in the USSR the main official newspaper had the name "Pravda" which in Russian means "Truth". | |||
| 4 Initially applied to terrorists (bandits) and enemy combatants. | |||
| 5 Shrunk to the size of apartment kitchens. | |||
| 6 It was written before 2007, however, taking into account real differences, it is not more than 1¼ - party system. | |||
The above chart is done in a simplified variant (Yes/No). You can add your importance numbers (see the example) and score each item in %. You can add new items, like "Free enterprise", "Education", "Public health", "Prison population", "Technology", etc..
Next: Can Bureaucracy Defeat Terrorism?
Up (Popular science)
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Please e-mail me at nikolai@shokhirev.com |
ŠNikolai V. Shokhirev, 2004-2007