Thursday, October 05, 2006

"The J Curve"

Heard the term ('The J Curve') on Daily Show tonight. It is meant to show that countries can be stable in 2 ways -- a. by being open, b. by being closed.

Open countries such as USA, France, Japan, etc are open to ideas and opinions. Their societies are accustomed to weathering different kinds of troubles with an open frame of mind. These countries are stable because they are open. Things kind of take care of themselves here. Most importantly, they can progress openly, too. Nothing hinders the possibilities (therefore .

Closed countries such as North Korea, Iran, much of the Middle East, etc are stable too, but their stability is limited due to the fact that they are close to any kind of adaptation (therefore on the left half of a 'J'). They fear that change may throw them into the trough of chaos. Open countries often contribute to this by threatening the closed countries and therefore paving the way for authoritarian rules.

Effective and interesting.

3 comments:

Monwar said...

Comparing this with the marriage post, I am stuck by the clarity and simplicity of your writing here. May be we all change our writing style when the 'showing off' stage is gone. :)

I REALLY like this post. I agree with this explanation and to extend: the inherent advantage and flexibility lies in open societies and that will be the ultimate, inevitable form. We should not/can not judge all societies as yet as most of the world is still trying to 'catch up' with the West.

Ishtiaq Rouf said...

precisely right. that phase of my life was a bit about 'showing off'. i have grown up enough to be frank enough to admit it.

i like the west's flexiblity. it's a true gift that the east is still unaware of. well, not quite. i'll explain in a latter post.

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