Feb

5

RIF: “Trust and Mistrust in International Relations”

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I just finished reading “Trust and Mistrust in International Relations” by Andrew Kydd.

Kydd formulated game theoretical models to explore trust and mistrust in international relations. He applied the model to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The book was quite informative and useful. I referred to the book often in my Cold War History course. In chapter 9, the Conclusion, Kydd highlights the current state of affairs and the United States’ shift from containment to preemptive war.

The United States, Kydd argues, should implement measures to reassure the world that is does not want to dominate it.

The book’s mathematical models should not be difficult for someone with a strong grounding in calculus to understand.

I recommend the book for people who are interested in the subject.

Jan

23

Lunch with Congressman Cardoza

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Today, I, along with 20+ other UC Merced students, had lunch with Congressman Dennis Cardoza in the Chancellor’s Conference Room.

It was a great experience to sit down with the Congressman, have lunch, and ask him questions about life and politics. After each person got a boxed lunch, Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey introduced him, he made a few remarks, and the floor was opened for questions.

I asked something like “What advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue a career in public service?� The answer: be sincere and work hard. His answer more elaborate, but it boiled down to those two thoughts.

Moreover, he encouraged us to get involved in service clubs, to be role models, reach out to the community, and to “help [our] fellow human beings.� It is our experience outside of college, not just inside, that will be the most rewarding.

It was a very inspiring lunch. I’m glad I intern in his office because he is the type of person I look up to.

Jan

15

RIF: “Presidential Greatness”

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After some thought, I have decided three things. One, I need to blog about what books I read because I want to keep a record and share my thoughts on them. Two, to better organize such posts, I should create a category. At first, I was thinking of the novel category “Books,â€? but after using some brain power, “Reading is Fundamentalâ€? is better. :-D Lastly, I need to read more. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a voracious appetite to learn and while I can sit around and foolishly wait for a “The Matrix” like downloading mechanism, I need information and one method of obtaining it is through reading.

With that said, tonight I finished reading Marc Landy and Sidney M Milkis’ book “Presidential Greatness.� Published by the University of Kansas Press in 2000, Landy and Milkis highlight what greatness is and describe five past United States presidents who were great: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Each president approached the presidency differently. However, the five presidents had the ambition, ability, and opportunity to redefine the constitutional role of the president.

The three major themes I gathered from the book were the importance of the constitution and the president’s responsibility of educating the public, the rise of political parties and their ability to constrain the president and connect the public, and finally the fall of parties and rise of individuals in politics.

The book as triggered a lot of thought and I will continue to contemplate the broad themes and specific matters of the book.

However, I feel a renaissance of American politics is in order, but the crucial question is how do we bring about such a renaissance?

Jan

9

“An Unfinished Life,” A Finished Book

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After about 4 months, I have finally completed Robert Dallek’s “An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963.â€?

This 700+ page, 4 Part, 19 chapter, book is brilliant for its ability to engage and communicate, with incredible detail and care, to the reader the life of JFK.

Subsequent to the book, I now have a better picture of the 35th President of the United States, the politics that surrounded him, and his career in public service.

I recommend Dallek’s book to others, especially to those people who want to learn more about a man that sought to change the world and how he went about doing it.

Learning so much from this book, I can only imagine the impact it will have on my future.

Jan

7

100 Pages Per Day

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I have decided to make a concerted effort to read 100 pages per day.

I believe it is essential to develop a strong reading habit for three reasons. First, if I want to positively contribute to society, then it is absolutely critical that I am knowledgeable about a particular subject or topic. By reading, I will learn more and discover what is most interesting to me and therefore allow me to focus more on a particular subject or topic. As of now, I am interested in American Politics, and more specifically the writing of and the implications of the Constitution. While I might not become an expert on the Constitution, at least I’ll know more about it because I read about it. And through my reading, might find something that is more interesting and pursue that avenue.

Second, I need to be well-read. If I intend to serve the people, then it is vital that I have a breadth and depth of knowledge about the world. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Information is the currency of democracy.� To be informed is one thing, but the ability to inform others is another.

Finally, the university demands that a student read a lot. After my first semester at UC Merced, I have read more than I have ever read in my life: it’s crazy! Daunting at first, the goal, with self-discipline, sustained effort and external encouragement, is to be comfortable when confronted with a pile of books. By not reading, I am short-changing myself and that is something I cannot afford to do.

Today, I read 72 pages. By next Saturday, I hope to be at the 100 page mark.

Dec

25

“On Leadership�

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In the December 2005 issue of the American Political Science Association (APSA)’s Perspectives on Politics, I read an excellent article by Nannerl O. Keohane, a Laurance Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Woodrow Wilson School and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University, titled “On Leadership.�

In “On Leadership,� Keohane bring “together two decades of experience in educational leadership� to “offer advice to prospective leaders.�

The article is broken down into 21 sections, each focusing on a particular aspect of leadership. Below I discuss the first three sections.

Section 1: How Organizations Differ in the Concentration of Power and the Ends They Are Designed to Pursue. In this section, Keohane draws attention to the fact that “it is important to bear in mind the level of authority and kind of organization for which the advice may be most relevant.� In other words, she describes that different organizational structures require different leadership styles and approaches.

For example, she describes a university as a “flotilla� or a large gathering of ships and each ship in the flotilla has its own captain, its own crew and its own particular objective. The role of a patrol boat is much more different than that of an aircraft carrier. While the former ensures that no foreign vessels approach the flotilla undetected, the latter is designed to launch critical air attacks and defenses when commanded to do so. Therefore, each vessel has a unique role, but both are part of a larger entity. The flotilla, as a whole, has one general mission to complete.

Keohane states that it is prudent to “be cautious in offering generalizations about leaders in diverse kinds of settings� because “many have come to grief in overlooking the truth of this observation, in making statement notable for their blandness and lack of relevance to the diverse situations leaderships face.�

Section 2: On the Activities of Leadership. Keohane states that “when embarking on a venture that others have taken before us, we nearly always follow the tracks made by others, proceeding in their paths my imitation even though we cannot entirely attain the excellence of our models.�

While she does not go onto elaborate on the point regarding the past, it is important to state that history cannot be ignored. For those who aspire to become great leaders, it is worthwhile to often pause and take a look back to reassess one’s self and the situation one’s in with respect to the past. She asserts that “leaders make decisions� and that “no one else has the same opportunities or obligations� that a leader does.

One obligation a leader has it to understand and continuously reflect on the past because a leader must exhibit tremendous foresight. We often question the decisions of others: Is this the best course of action to take at this point in time? What if we are wrong, but then again, what if we are right? Decisions that are the most sound are the decisions made based on accurate data and understanding of the past.

Referencing the concept of the “great man� theory, Keohane states that “historians and social scientists often concentrate on the constraints that leaders face, the role of followers in shaping the leader’s behavior, and the importance of circumstance,� however, the “choices leaders make� are just as important. In other words, we cannot ignore what leaders do.

Section 3: On Choosing and Assessing Subordinates. This section is of particular interests because it makes me think about my past and how I have gone about selecting people to serve with me. “Subordinates who are both competent and loyal reflect well on the leader because observers assume that the leader knows how to judge their competence and acts so as to deserve their loyalty� remarks Keohane.

I do not view selecting subordinates as selecting subordinates. I am not selecting someone who I am going to boss or be in charge of. Rather, I select someone that I want to work with and choose them based on their abilities, qualities and character. A leader should answer the following question in the affirmative: “Can I work with this person?� Yes, of course because leaders must be able to do so for their success and the success of the organization. However, if the leader has the ability to select those he or she is going to work with then the most critical question a leader can ask is “Do I want to work with this person?� It is important to for a leader to choose people who believe and are willing to dedicate themselves to the cause the leader is championing.

I agree with Keohane that it is important for a leader to have a strong understanding of the organization they are leading, be able to “judge competently� the specialties of others, and be able to recognize where he or she is deficient and “act accordingly.�

Furthermore, she states that a “leader must be considerate of [their] ministers and reward them appropriately.� The leader “should be quick to praise [their] officers in public, giving them ample credit for their roles in successful endeavors.� This is something I truly believe in because a leader is not a leader without a team, a group of people who seek to accomplish the task and mission at hand. It is remarkable what receiving praise can do to a person. To recognize someone for their work and commitment allows for the true champions of organizations to rise and be recognized. I will never forget how it feels to see someone, who I have worked with, who I have seen grow and mature and who has committed themselves to a cause I believe in and see the joy on their face. And recognition doesn’t solely need to occur in public, a leader should also praise in private. To sit down with someone over a cup a tea and discuss pending organizational issues that must be address and then to abruptly stop and say “thank you� are the type of moments that a person does not soon forget.

Dec

12

The Final Stretch

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A person can run a race and run it strong, leading the pack, but if they don’t finish, for whatever reason, then the race is lost.

With about 10 days left in the fall semester at UC Merced, I encourage myself and others not to forget that we have been running for 15 weeks.

Even though we may have tripped up or slowed down throughout the course of the race, this is the final stretch. This is not the time to quit, to waiver in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, or to say “I just can’t do this.�

Rather, this is the time to catch your second wind, maybe third, and recognize that you can overcome whatever obstacles stand in your way to achieving success.

Aug

6

Web Posts Get 27 Fired

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The Associated Press reported that the Automobile Club of Southern California recently fired twenty-seven employees after recieving a complaint from an employee about “feeling harassed by the comments, which were written by employees on the MySpace.com Web site on their own time at home.”

The Automobile Club Spokeswoman Carol Thorp stated: “”This isn’t a free speech issue. You can’t just go on and say anything about anybody — and keep your job.”

Due to the fact that corporations are private entities, they can enact and enforce policies that attempt to control the behavior of their employees. The rationale for such a policy is two-fold.

First, if a person is an employee of the corporation, then he or she is also a representative of the corporation. Moreover, a corporation seeks to maintain a good reputation with the public because it relies on the public to make business. For example, if employee John Doe of XYZ Inc. is sending spam with the signature “John Doe, Employee of XYZ Inc,� that will reflect not just on Mr. Doe, but XYZ Inc. as well.

The second reason a corporation would want to control the behavior of their employee is because the employee doesn’t just represent a specific corporation, but an entire industry. Using the previous example, if XYZ Inc. is an energy company, then the entire energy industry will be negatively recognized because of Mr. Doe’s spamming.

In sum, we are taught that stereotyping is wrong, but we must also remember that our behavior is reflective of us, as an individual, AND the group we associate ourselves with.

Jul

31

“Meet the Press” – Interesting and Illuminating

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This morning I watched Meet the Press with Tim Russert and it was an interesting show. During the segment about the U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, Mr. David S. Broder of the Washington Post illuminated the segment with what questions Senators should ask Roberts:

” I’d ask him, for example, what does he think about what’s happening now in some of the states in this country? What does he think is happening in the relationship between the states and the federal government? What does he think about what is happening between the employers and employees of this country? Get some sense about where his sense of social justice may be, what his sense of obligation to the society, and particularly ask him, what does he think the law means to average citizens? What can they expect from the courts? If he wants to talk about predictability, that would be important to know. If he thinks that there are some specific issues where people have a stake in what the courts decide, we’d like to know that about him.”

I rushed to find a pencil and paper to write down what Mr. Broder said because it “clicked” with me. The questions he listed were simple, vague and open-ended so as to encourage Mr. Roberts to speak about what’s on his mind.

Essentially, I learned that asking a specific question and listening for a specific answer limits what can be learned about a person and what they think. Therefore, do the opposite because sometimes it can reveal more about a person than expected.

Visit Meet the Press’ website to download the podcast or read the transcripts of the July 31st show.

Jul

24

Party Down, Ask about Education

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I am not an avid party person, but yesterday I attended my friend’s party.

It was great because of all the people. I love meeting and talking with people about life and in particular, education.

One of the first five questions I ask a person is what school they go to. If they don’t go to school, then I ask them why they are not going to school. The reason I ask is because school (education) is important to me and should be important to them.

I want to know what education endeavors people are pursuing because it is inspiring.

The point of this rather short blog is regardless of the social environment, education is important. Now, a party does not seem like the common place to talk about school, but a party is a social gathering. People come together to talk and have a good time.

Education is just one of the many things to talk about.

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