tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post5630528600098015622..comments2024-03-03T17:50:06.110+00:00Comments on Inner Diablog: Disarray legitimises dictatorshipInner Diabloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00455371690283484250noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-48555522043177027482013-05-04T20:38:47.087+00:002013-05-04T20:38:47.087+00:00It was supposed to be Margaret Thatcher's favo...It was supposed to be Margaret Thatcher's favourite book..!<br /><br />Inner Diabloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00455371690283484250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-38470716637308683022013-05-04T20:38:39.249+00:002013-05-04T20:38:39.249+00:00It was supposed to be Margaret Thatcher's favo...It was supposed to be Margaret Thatcher's favourite book..!<br /><br />Inner Diabloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00455371690283484250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9424895.post-80777086618008670712013-04-23T15:25:51.186+00:002013-04-23T15:25:51.186+00:00In college, I took a course where we read many of ...In college, I took a course where we read many of the political thinkers of Renaissance and enlightenment: Machiavelli, Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes.<br /><br />At the time, I simply could not understand The Leviathan. Where was this Hobbes guy coming from? He seemed intensely pessimistic. Then, I traveled to Guatemala in 2001, when Rios Montt had come back into power in Congress.<br /><br />That's when I remembered Hobbes. People will forgive a tyrant, if he (or she!) promises social stability. What is more important--freedom from repression? or the freedom to go about your daily business (even if it means that people somewhere else are being slaughtered).<br /><br />I think that one of the great faults of the Americans planning the invasion of Iraq was they had no understanding of the importance of social stability. They thought they could simply kill Saddam Hussein and "liberate" Iraq and their work would be done. <br /><br />Maybe if they had read The Leviathan...Begonianoreply@blogger.com