Déjà Vu

 In political science today, Professor Singh spoke about Thucydides, a Greek writer, historian and thinker who had a theory called “Power Politics”.  Thucydides wrote a historical account on the Peloponnesian War, which was between two major powers at the time, Athens and Sparta. Athens was the intellectual capital, where ideas were considered an item of trade, it was richer of the two, was a very open society where democracy flourished, and also the mentality of the Athenians was a bit on the arrogant side.

Sparta, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. A military powerhouse, Spartans were known for their motto of “Win or Die,” was not a very open society and remained very closed and isolated to the outside world, and frugal and simplistic in structure and standards of living. They fought for nearly a century and over generations over, no surprise here, power. But during times of truce, both city-states were keen on trying to gain allies and power by going to the smaller, and weaker city-states such as Melos, and forcing them to join their sides. In the end, the larger military power won, Sparta, and Athens and its age-old culture eventually died out.

Thousands of years later, fast forward to the 1960s, the height of the Cold War. The two largest superpower nations, the United States and the Soviet Union are in the midst of a large rivalry. The United States is well known as a beacon of democracy, a hub of innovation and ideas and economic prosperity. However, Americans are well-known for their “we-have-it-all” attitude and pride.

The Soviet Union is a cold, isolated nation where the people are ruled with a tight, iron fist. Militarily mighty, the Soviets are not keen on welcoming other people into their barren and sparse nation. Also note that at the time, the Americans and Soviets do not physically fight in one another’s territories, but instead, they move into the developing nations and fight out their issues there. Forcing nations to either side with them or the other, nations such as Panama, Vietnam, the Koreas, El Salvador, and others, to suffer as battlegrounds for the first world and the second world.

Any of this sounding familiar? It’s a direct parallel, one where the big nations duke it out over who rules the world, and everyone else bearing the brunt of their rivalries. And it’s still happening. The developed nations are all competing with one another, try to climb on top of one another at the top of the ladder, while all the rest of the developing nations are struggling just to climb the ladder itself. Right now, it’s just a big competition, one where countries are being forced to jump, and while many countries are, they might not be ready. What do these nations do? What is they’re too behind to jump? If everyone is too busy trying to get ahead in the game themselves, who will help the others?