Odyssey Dawn!

What does it mean? Who comes up with these names?

Thoughts on Fast Changing World, Motherhood

Things are certainly moving fast. Western allies have decided to bring down a tyrant, who not long ago was a good friend. A friend, who set up a tent in the middle of Paris. Yes, politics has certainly strange bedfellows.

I read somewhere that one has children in order to fight off depression. I do not know whether I had them with this thought in mind, but I find myself more and more relying on them to feel better. Have two daughters, aged 36 and 39 and I enjoy them immensely. Lately, I find myself calling them when I feel down and tired. Deep down I know that I should not that they have a life. So do I! I run, cycle, swim, work, read, and study but still seem to rely on them to put me on track. Like this morning.

And, Maayan! My cute 7-month-old granddaughter! How come I look at her picture on the refrigirator and my face breaks out in a smile?

It is OK, Tina.

Writing & Sharing

Decided to use my blog to write down my thoughts, views, and sentiments.

This is the first.

Libya seems to have overpowered the tragedy in Japan. The media is talking about the international intervention in Libya! I am dumbfounded once again by the media. I sometimes have the feeling that there is an international covert understanding not to talk about the real dangers we are facing in this world as they are too big to comprehend.

If I find the right person, I would like to ask him/her how TV stations manage to gather up so many experts in such a short time! It could be that they have a list and just push the button.

What is Cosmopolitanism?

Ulrich Beck and Natan Sznaider in "Unpacking Cosmopolitanism for the Social Sciences: A Research Agenda"

The authors mostly explain what cosmopolitanism is not, rather than what is. Perhaps, in the 21st century when globalization is at its peak, it is better to focus on the transformation under way in the global order and the nation-states than trying to describe a concept.

Interesting Book

Title: The Role of Regional Organizations in Conflict Prevention and Resolution,
Author: Herbert Wulf (ed.)
Date: July 2009

Bifurcation

Bifurcation theory is the mathematical study of changes in the qualitative or topological structure of a given family. Examples of such families are the integral curves of a family of vector fields, and the solutions of a family of differential equations.

Turkey: Cosmopolitanism & Global Problems

Question for Thesis
To what extent can cosmopolitanism bring solutions to the problems faced by Turkey?
To what extent can cosmopolitanism deal with the issued faced by Turkey with regard human security, human rights, and illegal immigration in the era of globalization
Under what conditions can cosmopolitanism bring solutions to nation-states and the challenges they face in the era of globalization?

Challenges:

• human security

Can we say that Turkey can best face the challenges of the 21st century in its form as nation-state?

According to David Held and Anthony Mc Grew, the nation-state system is still the best way to fight global problems, because it is only if states collaborate together that such problems be tackled. (The Global Transformations Reader"To what extent is the nation-state still the best administrative entity to provide human security for its citizens and face the challenges of the 21st century?

Ulrich Beck, in turn, says in his article entitled "Democracy Beyond the Nation-State" that "there is a new dialectic of the global and the local that is not easy to accommodate in national politics. It can be adequately presented and resolved only in a transnational context.For just that purpose the new political subject is necessary: cosmopolitan parties that represent transnational matters transnationally, but do so within the political arenas of nation-states." http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=1523 199.

1. David Held -- National Democracies need international cosmopolitical democracy. Reconfiguration of political power
2. Ulrich Beck -- International law is based on cosmopolitan principles/tolerance. Nation-state is over, cosmopolitan state system is the solution
3. Governance & Transnational Studies -- Methodoligical Nationalism: Nation-state is key order for studying major social, political processes. Nation-State does not capture transnational linkages. Unable to capture multi-dimensional processes of change Methodological Cosmopolitanism:

Will Kymlicka, in his article Liberal Nationalism and Cosmopolitan Justice, assesses Sheila Benhabib's 'democratic iteration' concept promoting liberal nation-states as opposed to a cosmopolitan order. Noting that nation-states find themselves within a transition period with their multicultural and multinational composition, Kymlicka acknowledged that the "pursuit of liberal nationhood" has been responsible for some of the gravest injustices in the world and observes the 'taming liberal nationhood' approach to preserve the benefits of a liberal nation-state while reducing its risks. Explaining that this same process is described as 'transcending liberal nationhood' by those trying to build new forms of 'postnational' or 'cosmopolitan' citizenship, Kymlicka writes that even the developments in Europe and the EU can be better understood with his approach.