A series of essays and articles from my days in academia. Many of these essays were written in response to a question and some of them no longer represent my current views.
The debate over Humanitarian Intervention (henceforth: HI) pits two opposing sides against one another: those against it uphold the principle of Sovereignty, while those for it espouse its virtues with regards to morality and pragmatism (Hoffman, 2000: 152). HI is simply a process whereby external actors intervene in the domestic affairs of a state on …
The value of Machiavelli’s The Prince can be construed in a number of ways – prominently, in the practical application of its advice, its historical significance as the founding work of political science and its philosophical illumination of the phenomenon of power. This essay will be discussing the first and third of these themes, examining …
In his article, Mearsheimer (2006) argues that China’s attempts to gain power as a nation-state will spur the United States into action against them (Mearsheimer, 2006: 162). His reasoning for this is based on his formulated theory of Offensive Realism. This essay will be briefly outlining the theory of Offensive Realism; after that, it will …
The Problem of Evil has always posed a quandary with regards to the traditional ideas of Theism – so much so that an entire school of study, theodicy, has been formed to attempt to defend the idea of a Theistic God. The idea of a Theist God is that there is one creator God, who …
Divine Command Theory (DCT) is an assertion that morality is dependent on God. The theory has been classified into three main strands: Prudential, Theoretical and Epistemological. The former, Prudential, is an assertion which has been easily disproven with the common sense argument of “moral atheists” and proper moral motivation (Berg, 1993: 531), and will not …
An economy is ultimately built on trust. If society trusts the system, then the system will remain. In the latter half of the 20th century, after a Golden Age of economic prosperity, the system of many capitalist countries began to collapse[1]. The economic policy of these nations was termed the ‘Keynesian Consensus’ (KC) – a …
Language is a tool. Like all tools, it exists to solve a problem. Philosophy is also a tool, aimed at identifying and, hopefully, elucidating problems. But tools only arise when there is a function for them. This is the same for language and philosophy. Kwasi Wiredu argued that some philosophical problems may be ‘tongue-dependent’ (Wiredu, …
Kaoru Sugihara (2013) argues that industrialisation can be viewed as two distinctive paths – the Western Path and the Asian Path. The Western Path is that seen in European industrialisation, while the Asian Path is that identified for East Asian industrialisers (specifically Japan). This essay will be contrasting the paths in terms of the historical …
Come 1984, Escom (Escom and Eskom will be used interchangeably) was flagging. In response to protests against the electricity monopoly, then president, PW Botha, appointed the De Villiers Commission of Inquiry to investigate solutions to the institutions problems.[1] This Commission had the fundamental purpose of restructuring the management of Escom to transform the institution into …
Read more “Eskom’s Implementation of the De Villiers Commission”
During the 20th century, nations from the regions of East Asia, Latin America and Africa all sought to become globally competitive through industrialisation. Some, like the East Asian Tigers, succeeded while others experienced tumultuous results (Latin America) or did not achieve development at all (Africa). This essay will be comparing each region and their general …
Read more “Comparing Developmental Paths in East Asia, Latin America and Africa”