Speaking of Special Effects, Dangovt will need all its expertise in psy-ops and propaganda to mitigate the political effects of falling oil prices. Those prices will likely bounce back within 24 months, but DW will likely need to orchestrate new crises before then, or he may end up getting lumped in with the petrocrats:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090212.wcogee13/BNStory/specialComment/home
It's a good thing for DW that no one has told Marcus Gee about Freedom From Information or the other aspects of Danland's version of Managed Democracry, which according to an article sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "controls society while providing the appearance of democracy."
"Its main characteristics are as follows:
1. A strong presidency [Premier] and weak institutions [House of Assembly]
2. State control of the media [VODW and its affiliates]
3. Control over elections allows elites to legitimize their decisions [ABC and its affiliates]
4. Visible short-term effectiveness and long-term inefficiency [petro-dollar Danwar]
The result is an “unstable stability” based on the president’s personality. He is actually a hostage of the system. This system is highly dysfunctional, with poor information flows. Everything beneath the president is vertically integrated, but there are no horizontal connections."
See http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=819
I'm not sure about the hostage part, but I leave it to you to draw your own comparisons with the other criteria.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment