government remains with Americans today. The only difference is the problems and challenges that have come forth in response to such alienating elements compound the situation.
One can also speculate other countries find
themselves in a similar situation. Already mentioned were countries who engaged in national liberation efforts (South Africa, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Thailand, Egypt, Libya, and Morocco) but found their hopes diminished or dashed. And there are others for which reform seems difficult if unlikely. Consider, for example, the Middle East and North Africa. As Robert Springborg points out in his recent book, Political Economies of the Middle East & North Africa, “the national economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the region’s economy as a whole, are today in a disorder that is deeply rooted historically and structurally and therefore not susceptible to
rapid resolution.”59 Could it be that we are in a unique time, when all of us are searching for new ideas?
At the End of the Day
Maybe some person, whether intellectual or not, whether inside academe or not, could assume the mantle of leadership by providing frameworks for living a dignified human existence–frameworks within which the individual vision for what the country might be could be joined with individual compassion for the position of others given what the country might become. This requires the person who takes up this mantel do so outside traditional ideological and governance frameworks, in order to compose new structures that address both old and new concerns.
In short, it may be time to recall what Isaiah Berlin said long ago: “The central feature of any liberal society has to be the procedural framework that encourages negotiation.”60 Maybe we should add, a non-ideological structure that encourages conversation.
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