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INTRODUCTION 

Alexander Wendt is one of the core social constructivist scholars in the field of international relations. He developed a theory of the international system as a social construction. He refers to his theory as a constructivist approach to international politics although he said that it is a kind of idealism, a structural idealism.

Wendt’s most influential work to date is Social Theory of International Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1999), which was a jump off from his 1992 article “Anarchy is What States Make of It”.

In this book, Wendt divided the discussion of his theory into two levels: second order issues which refer to the ontology and epistemology and first order issues referring to the units and levels of analysis.

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Introduction

Yone Minagawa, 114 years old and Tomoji Tanabe, 111 years old, are the oldest living individuals on earth as recorded by the Guiness Book of World Records. Both are now living in Japan, which has one of the world’s longest average life spans. This factor is often attributed to the Japanese’ healthy diet of fish and rice. Japan’s centenarian population has quadrupled in the past 10 years and is expected to reach nearly one million in 2050.

Population aging is a worldwide phenomenon. According to the 2005 Human Development Report, it is taking place worldwide except for 18 countries. Scholars say that approximately one in five persons will be aged 65 or over in the 21st century.

Rapidly aging population refers to the change in age distribution or age structure of a population toward older ages. An increase in the population’s median age, a decline in the proportion of the population composed of children and a rise in the number of elderly people are all aspects of population aging.

Population aging is progressing rapidly in many industrialized countries but developing countries are also experiencing rapid increases in their proportion of elderly people. This pattern is expected to continue over the next decades.

The elderly today have attained higher levels of education and economic position than their counterparts in the past. These factors including their rising number has made the elderly a major social and political force in the world. And because older populations are increasing on a global basis, the issues and problems associated with aging are worldwide.

This paper takes a look at the global phenomenon of rapidly aging population. It gives an overview of the recent trend in world demographics, what brings about population aging, its economic effects particularly on labor, what it means for the social security system particularly the health and pension sector and its impact on migration processes. Finally, this paper takes a look at the possible solutions to this issue and how interstate policies must be changed in order to reverse the process of population aging and impede its detrimental effects.

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I. Summary

Joseph E. Stiglitz’ book Globalization and its Discontents works at the premise that globalization is not an inherently evil concept. However, it is the management of globalization by international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), that has produced discontents particularly from developing countries.

Stiglitz acknowledges that globalization does have its benefits. He argues that international trade has helped many economies to grow far more quickly than they would have otherwise done without joining the global market. He also stated that globalization has allowed people to live longer and to have better standards of living. Another benefit brought to us by globalization, Stiglitz says, is the increasing access to knowledge. This is particularly beneficial to people from developing countries whose increasing access to information technology has allowed them to become more in tuned with the rest of the world.

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This book gives an insider perspective of how and why former president Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada lost the presidency in a people’s uprising also known as EDSA People Power 2 in January of 2001.

The authors, Aphrodicio and Eleanor Laquian both served Erap in his short tint as president. Estrada appointed Aphrodicio Laquian as his chief of staff while Eleanor Laquian also helped in the internal management of a small unit in Malacañang called TOP or The Office of the President. The Laquians only stayed in what they described as the “snake pit” for merely six weeks from February to March 2000. Their appointment was racked with intrigues because of the internal politics inside Malacañang. Erap was reportedly angered after Laquian joked about how Erap’s midnight cabinet made important decisions for the country. The midnight cabinet referred to was Erap’s late night drinking buddies. On March 24, 2000, the Laquians went back to Canada after an embarrassing and well publicized falling out with the president.

The book is a product of the authors’ personal experiences inside Malacañang, their personal interaction and relationship with Estrada and their knowledge of the political system. The thesis of this book was presented by its authors in the first chapter.

“Our primary thesis in this book is that, despite his many personal flaws, the tragic end of the Estrada presidency cannot be blamed on the president’s personal traits and individual characteristics alone. Rather, what happened to the Estrada presidency should be seen in the total contexts of the Philippine political culture. We propose that in this case, President Estrada should be seen as a typical Filipino, embodying in his persona many characteristics that make the Filipinos what they are.”

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INTRODUCTION

The increasingly globalized world can be credited to the information revolution made possible by information and communication technologies (ICTs). We have heard incessantly about the benefits brought by these new technologies on the way we do things and the manner in which we communicate.

Critics of globalization are quick to point out, however, that a so-called digital divide exists between the developed and underdeveloped countries. The latter are portrayed to be playing catch-up in order to reap the benefits of new technology.

This paper looks at the digital divide within the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the efforts being made to bridge the gap and how underdeveloped countries can move even closer to closing the gap.

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INTRODUCTION

There is no question as to how mobile telephony i.e., the use of mobile phone technology, has changed the lives of millions of Filipinos.

Before the advent of mobile phones in the country in the early 90s and the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, there were only 1.37 million landlines serving about 62 million Filipinos nationwide. The waiting time for a phone line to be installed was two to six months and the ruling Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company had a backlog of almost 800,000 lines.[1]

The emergence of wireless technology in the country has since changed the way Filipinos communicate. It has also a posed a significant impact on our politics and economy.

For this particular study, the researcher focused on the effects of mobile telephony on the agricultural sector, particularly fish trading in the country.

The study was done using case studies of fish traders in Navotas fish port, where most fish and seafood vendors in Metro Manila markets get their goods.

Finally, the objective of this paper is to provide options for development, to improve the fish trading system by taking advantage of the mobile phone technology through what is called m-Government or mobile government.

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Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 19, 2003, p.9

After four years in the university, I came out convinced that the hardest part about learning is not dragging yourself to school (although this could be a problem if you have a class at 7 a.m.), or dealing with anxiety while cramming for exams (I got the hang of it to the point that it became an exhilarating experience to finish a test). It is not even writing those long papers in a hurry, for it led to the discovery that beating deadlines actually stimulates my creative juices.

The most difficult part was accepting the reality that no matter how much studying you do, no matter how much Glutaphos you take or coffee you drink, you can never know everything.

I was a junior journalism student when I met Prof. Albina Fernandez. She fit my image of a woman who had aged gracefully, garbed in her color-coordinated clothes, shoes and bags. Her long black hair, streaked with some gray strands, was always neatly tied in a bun.

Monday and Thursday afternoons, I literally had to drag my feet way up the fourth floor of the decrepit Palma Hill at the University of the Philippines in Diliman for my required Rizal course, a.k.a. Philippine Institutions 100 or PI 100. For those who consider it as another course to flunk, “PI” also stands for that vulgar Filipino cuss word.

Our first few meetings with Professor Fernandez were a big disappointment for me. I would often sneer behind her back because I was hoping we could talk more about Rizal instead of gossiping about some dumb actor who got elected into a high government post. Unlike others who detested this general education course, I had looked forward to studying Rizal. At the tender age of 12, I had vowed to marry a man like him if I could not have the real thing.

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I feel the need to write
with my head
I feel the need to catch
the words that come flying
across the wind
before they leave me
for another drifter

Rain pours softly
like a song from a past
I could not remember
Sad thoughts come running
through my hands, into thin paper
And I forget to breathe when
tears fail to leave my eyes.

Words come to me like
morning hunger strikes
Subtly first, then gently
eating away sentience
until one can think of nothing
more but the moment
of multicolored themes.

I feel the need to write
While silence fills the second
And I remember to be a stranger
To a world where everything
freely questions anything
Dysfunctionality then
becomes my very nature.

No one joins me in this place.
I lock myself firmly
with a cloud of smoke,
my pen and paper,
my solitude and hunger
As I try to catch the words that
come flying across the wind.

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INTRODUCTION

The United States-led war in Afghanistan came as an immediate response against terrorism after the September 11 terror attacks in the U.S.  On October 7, 2001, the United States, its ally the United Kingdom and supported by a coalition of other countries, invaded Afghanistan.  The military operation was codenamed Operation Enduring Freedom whose target were the Taliban and Al Qaeda related camps.

After the fall of the Taliban government, a US-sponsored democratic central government was established in Afghanistan.  However, resistance from Islamic militants still persists as evidenced by the frequent infightings and suicide bombings in the past years.

By discussing the conflicting interests, norms, rules, identity and institutions in this paper, the researcher would like to show how unlike other conflicts, the war against terrorism is one that is more difficult to resolve because it lies heavily on socially-constructed ideas.

The researcher used the constructivist approach in this paper with particular focus on norms, rules, identity and institutions as described by scholars namely Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, Miles Kahler, Nicholas Onuf, Hedley Bull, James March and Johan Olsen.  Alexander Wendt’s brand of constructivism, which gives emphasis on the role of interests, was also used in this paper.

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Introduction

After the Cold war, some scholars saw that the rationalist model of explaining phenomena was inadequate. Miles Kahler explains that this “cognitive inadequacy” of rationalist models needs to be modified or even abandoned so as to include other matters such as emotion-laden issues of identity.[1]

Philip Tetlock and Charles McGuire, Jr. saw that policymakers in international politics had “limited capacity information processors” so they employ a simple strategy of understanding their own environment.[2] This strategy has challenged the primacy of rational choice in decision-making, thus constructivism was born.

Social constructivism, according to Kahler, puts emphasis on socially constructed identity in research. Decision-makers, policymakers or what constructivists call “agents,” are affected by his or her institutional environment.[3]

The basic premise of constructivism, according to Nicholas Onuf is that human beings are social beings and that we are ultimately defined by our social relations.

“Constructivism holds that people make society, and society makes people. This is a two-way process. Social rules, the third element, link the other two elements. Social rules make the process by which people and society constitute each other continuous and reciprocal.”[4]

This paper looks at the global war on terrorism as a war of norms, rules and institutions notwithstanding the interests of its lead agency, the United States of America. It also attempts to understand why states comply while others refuse to participate in the war.

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