Croft Commentary

Sustainability is not an idealistic goal far off in the distance. It is not some outlandish belief held up by the environmentalist demonizing the monstrosities befalling our planet at the hands of the economic tyrants of our age. Sustainability is more than that. Sustainability is about perpetuating the human existence and not growing beyond our means. Much like how one can loose their house and become bankrupt if they do not manage their budget effectively, when can degrade our environment, cause famine and diminish our natural resources if we do not carefully consider the effects of our current collective lifestyles on our future persistence. The goal of sustainable urban or regional plan is not to curtail economic development, nor to blindly promote environmental protection or social equity. The goal of the sustainable planner is to balance the needs of the three paradigms and concoct efforts that positively effect all three. Because, in reality all requires the benefits of the o...

The American and Canadian Federal systems are both “advanced liberal democracies” (62), though they are founded on different ideologies. America’s system was founded on preservation of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” rooted in a fear of a government that held power too centralized. Canada’s motto, in contrast, is in pursuit of “peace, order, and good government.” Canadians, unlike their southern counterparts, are less weary of government intervention (as evident in policies like nationalized healthcare) and therefore have instituted a more centralized government power structure than that of the fifty United States. The Canadian system is an efficient form of government that has the potential to be even more powerful and efficient than the American one, as long as Parliament is under a majority government. Implication of the system here in the states would not be practical, due to historical issues between the parent nation of the United Kingdom and the rebellious US. Exe...

The Canadian Economy and the Core-Periphery Concept The Core-Periphery Concept is an economic model that has been used to explain the strong centralization of the Canadian economy around the Great Lakes – St Lawrence Lowlands region. Like a spokes of a wheel, the peripheral territories lead to the economic center of the country that stretches along the Windsor-Quebec corridor. This framework identifies the core region as a region having good agricultural lands, high levels of industry and urbanization along with a close proximity to markets. The Periphery, on the other hand, would be territories where the economies are focused on resource production with scattered populations and “weakly integrated urban systems”. With sixty percent of Canada’s population living within the “heartland” of the Great Lakes – St Lawrence Lowlands region, it is obvious that they have well developed urban systems and infrastructure. This region boasts possession of half the nation’s metropolitan areas and hi...

Ideology and American Foreign Policy This election year has brought foreign policy to the forefront of public attention. Many criticized the views of both candidates on world issues. Some said that Barack Obama was too idealistic and naïve in his approach when he said he would have presidential talks with controversial world figures. Others criticized John McCain when he spoke against hasty withdrawals from Iraq. How much of a role do each candidate’s ideologies play into their foreign policy decisions? What roles do ideologies play traditionally in American politics? American Liberalism has traditionally been more world-oriented, with emphasis on individual rights, while American Conservatism has been more nationalistic in its viewpoint, with emphasis on traditional social values. But this is an overly simplified analysis of American politics. Individual viewpoints for a whole populace do not fall on a simple, one-dimensional line from left-to-right. There are too many variables...

The history of China during the 20th Century has been defined by internal conflict: first with China falling under Japanese control before the Second World War, second with the nationalists and communist uniting to overthrow that Japanese control. Eventually Chiang Kaishek and the Chinese Communist Party engaged in a civil war in which the nationalist government was forced to flee to Taiwan, but the internal feuding did not end there. Within the Communist Party there were many disagreements, between those who agreed with Mao Zedong, and those that did not. It was those disagreements that eventually led to Mao catalyzing the 100 Flowers Movement, the Anti-Rightist Campaigns, and eventually the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The most effective of these campaigns - in terms of mass mobilization - was the Chinese Cultural Revolution of late 1965. The Cultural Revolution had four phases, according to Hong Yung Lee, the author of The Politics of the Chinese Cultural Revolution:...