Failed States Quotes
The meaning of “mimesis” is imitation and adoption. Toynbee argues that many important innovations are developed in a thriving civilization by minorities—ethnic, religious, national and intellectual. And the majority soon adopts and imitates those innovations thus permeating them throughout society.
His predecessors had lied about the status of the Greek Economy and then squandered the money with waste, fraud, and corruption. To avoid total national bankruptcy, Greece needed a large bailout which was given subject to a set of required conditions of reform and transparency. This “austerity” package created a great hardship for many of the average Greek citizens while the wealthy who had benefitted from the previous incompetence and corruption took their money out of the country. The Greek voters elected a new government without much experience but who were committed to lifting the burden of the austerity package. The problem was that the major nations of the Eurozone, whose taxpayers would have to pay for the bailout, had been burned before by Greek government lies and incompetence and did not trust the Greeks, insisting on the austerity measures if any bailout money would be forthcoming. The new Greek government was caught in a great dilemma. Agree to the same kind of Austerity package and continue the great hardships on the people or go into Bankruptcy and leave the Eurozone the consequences of which would probably be worse. The finance minister was hoping for a compromise.
At Indian Independence from Britain, people could choose whether they wanted to be citizens of India or the new Muslim state created because many Muslims insisted on living in a country that was majority Muslim. However, and what came as a great shock to the then new Pakistani leadership, the majority of the Muslims of India choose not to become citizens of the new Islamic state and preferred to stay in Hindu dominated India which they knew would be democratic, free, and would protect their right to practice Islam as they saw fit. Many feared that in Pakistan Islamic extremists would dictate the exact form of Islam that Muslims must follow, and that is exactly what happened in Pakistan—not only from government action proscribing religious practice but from the government tolerating and not interfering with Islamic fundamentalist extremist terrorists who often assassinated Muslims whose particular form of worship was offensive to them or people would call for reforms of the protection of human rights.
At the time Solali was a failed state and he was prime minister in name only and his government controlled a small piece of the country. Warlords, pirates, strongmen, all controlled the rest of the area that used to be Somali.
It was true in Gordon’s time, and it was unfortunately true even into the 21st century.
He began an anti-corruption campaign, that executed many and jailed thousands. However, the Chinese Party Council has more billionaires than any other national legislature in the world. Most of these fortunes were made via corruption; these high level figures and those of the army by 2014 were not prosecuted. However, it was a start.
