tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968421.post111313092485374064..comments2024-03-23T02:40:59.858-05:00Comments on The Lebanese Bloggers: More on the Modern StateRajahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02625042447499335907noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968421.post-1113237461898194692005-04-11T11:37:00.000-05:002005-04-11T11:37:00.000-05:00Doha,I whole-heartedly agree with your link betwee...Doha,<BR/><BR/>I whole-heartedly agree with your link between work for the educated and the emergence of the kind of vibrant societies that we'd like to see in our country.<BR/><BR/>When the best scientists, businessmen, enonomists, industrialists and educators leave their host countries, who is left in our "civil society"? <BR/><BR/>Those who remain are the most desperate people who are at the mercy of politicians (and remitances) for food on their tables!<BR/><BR/>In my opinion, that gives politicians too much power! It gives them the ability to do what they like without taking a strong civil society into consideration. The result, as we all can see, is that politics suffers!<BR/><BR/>An interesting segway to this comment is Jumblatts call for "members of the opposition" to come up with political programs. I am curious to see what they come up with and how they do it!<BR/><BR/>Will every single one of them have a plan???Rajahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02625042447499335907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968421.post-1113225436208088192005-04-11T08:17:00.000-05:002005-04-11T08:17:00.000-05:00Not just education, but relevant education. Studen...Not just education, but relevant education. Students need both professional and intellectual skills, they need to be shown how to ask questions and find things out for themselves.<BR/> <BR/>Rote learning, whether of science or other subjects, is not very useful.<BR/> <BR/>But in some countries, even basic literacy would be a big step forward.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10968421.post-1113136500022586452005-04-10T07:35:00.000-05:002005-04-10T07:35:00.000-05:00Reem,Can you say more about the taiwan experience?...Reem,<BR/><BR/>Can you say more about the taiwan experience? there seems to be some interesting parrallels btw. taiwan and Lebanon. To list just three:<BR/><BR/>1. both are relatively small states<BR/>2. both business communities are mainly family-run businesses<BR/>3. both have much larger neighbors that share the same language and, to some extent, culture.<BR/><BR/>Also, I didn't quite get your rationale for claiming that the state becomes weaker as people get more educated.<BR/><BR/>And finally, would you consider Cellis and Libancell as examples of the "targeted corruption" you were talking about? Both companies weren't exactly clean, and they're not chaebols either. But a significant portion of the shares were onwed by Lebanese, they both appeared to be competitive, and they were looking to expand by investing in other countries.Rajahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02625042447499335907noreply@blogger.com