Ideological and Policy Alternatives to the Resolution of Africa’s Perpetual Crisis: is There a Worthy Policy or Ideological Alternative?
Abstract
This chapter reviews the prospects of putting a terminal stop to perpetual wars, crises and achieving stable peace. The concept of Natural Rights as the imperative contextual criteria for universal democratization is described first. Natural Rights are values that identify human beings as equal, free, and indomitable irrespective of time, place, physical attributes, ideological or religious values. These characteristics of Natural Rights are the foundational criteria. Liberalism, and totalitarianism are described in detail to see if they meet the basic criteria for commitment to peace and conflict resolution. Totalitarian ideologies value centralized power resting at the hand of the ruling elites. Individual freedoms are less valued to collectivist interest. Citizens can participate on subjective bases to address issues tailor-made by the totalitarian party - the content and character of which cannot be criticized, revised, or rejected. Liberalism embraces the contextual criteria and upholds the view that human beings are born equal and endowed with freedom and liberty that cannot be alienated by any earthly authority. Capitalism impairs liberalism by injecting greed, single-mindedness and ethical lapses which compromise freedom, liberty, equality and thus result in injustice. Critically, liberalism cannot harness the shortfalls of capitalism. Unregulated capitalism can subvert the lofty virtues of liberalism and diminish its ideological expressions of liberty, freedom, and justice. Liberalism under the control of unmoderated capitalism is not better than totalitarianism with respect to the prospects of terminating perpetual wars and crises, or in providing conditions for stable peace. On the global stage, Western diplomats, as champions of liberalism, attempt to promote democratization that would meet the contextual criteria, but their efforts are undercut by self-serving diplomats and capitalist lobbyists.
Recommended Citation
Isaac, T. (2019). Ideological and Policy Alternatives to the Resolution of Africa’s Perpetual Crisis: is There a Worthy Policy or Ideological Alternative?. War or Peaceful Transformation: Multidisciplinary and International Perspectives, pp. 337-361. NOVA Science Publishers.
Department(s)
History and Political Science
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-153616595-1
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 NVOA Science Publishers, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2019