18th October 2006

The J Curve : New Way To Understand Why Nations Rise And Fall The J Curve is a visual tool that explains why some countries are in crisis and unstable while others are prosperous and politically solid. In the J Curve, movement from left to right along the J curve demonstrates that a country that is stable because it is closed must go through a period of dangerous instability as it opens to the outside world.

OPENNESS AND THE J CURVE

"Openness" is a measure of the extent to which a nation is in harmony with the crosscurrents of globalization - the processes by which people, ideas, information, goods, and services cross international borders at unprecedented speed. - How many books written in a foreign language are translated into the local language? - What percentage of a nation's citizens have access to media outlets whose signals originate from beyond their borders? - How many are able to make an international phone call? - How free are a nation's citizens to travel abroad? - How much foreign direct investment is there in the country? - How much cross-border trade exists? There are many more such questions.

CONCLUSION

All states are in constant movement on the J curve. Some states fluctuate within a relatively narrow range. Others, particularly those closest to the bottom on either side of the curve, experience wider swings. Left alone, a left-side state will slide toward instability because authoritarianism must be continuously reconsolidated. Kim Jong-Il, Robert Mugabe, Alexander Lukashenko, the clerics who rule Iran, the military junta that dominates Burma, the autocrats of Central Asia, the Saudi royals, the Kremlin elite, the Chinese Communist Party leadership, and all the people who enable their autocratic rule spend enormous time and energy reinforcing regime stability and resisting the natural pull of greater political, economic, and social openness. ...Read more…..

THE ONLINE BOOKS PAGE

ABOUT THE ONLINE BOOKS PAGE Do you enjoy reading? Do you know that there is an online book website that facilitates access to books that are freely readable over the Internet? You can search for books by authors and titles. There is even a section on banned books; books that have banned for whatever reasons. But do not expect to find the latest top of the chart books to be found here. You will probably have better luck with the likes of Eleanor Porter, Charles Dickens, Robert L. Stevenson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jane Austen, etc... Major parts of the site include: An index of thousands of online books freely readable on the Internet Pointers to significant directories and archives of online texts Special exhibits of particularly interesting classes of online books Information on how readers can help support the growth of online books If you enjoy reading, spend some time to explore and enjoy this site. ...Read more...