First Impressions¹

Daunting. That best describes the task at hand. How does one discuss such diverse issues as US hegemony, water wars, economic crisis in Latin America, the European Union's move toward their own security and a 'clash of civilizations" in the Caucasus with an aim toward finding one common theme? And as I contemplated the task, it occurred to me that if all this overwhelms me, a political science student, how must it read to the ordinary person on the street? It is no wonder why international relations are often left for academics and politicians to ponder.

So I sat with my multicolored index cards spread out before me, each with a few comments on the assigned readings. And I had my list of themes compiled at our first meeting. Certainly I could write about the uneven distribution of power in relation to Latin America and Russia. The article "Economic Crisis in Latin America: Global Contagion, Local Pain" makes for a perfect link for the two reading sections. There is also an obvious link between the article on US policy toward Muslims and the Russian reaction to Islamic forces in the Caucasus. Grouping the cards in little piles, I was struck by how someone walking in on the scene might think I was playing a game. And how they might be right. That realization is more than daunting. It is alarming.

It is alarming because if the task of sorting through myriad international issues looks more like a game of strategy, it will never be something the average person will embrace. How to make these issues embraceable is perhaps more important to me than finding a way to associate one to another. To be sure, there are many issues taken up in the articles that do resonate every day in the lives of US citizens. The so-called "war on drugs" is something most hear about daily. The horrors of Kosovo are common knowledge, even if some still confuse NATO with NAFTA. With the recent Russian submarine disaster in the North Sea, many more Americans are aware of how the power of politics competes with what would seem to be the most reasonable reaction…accepting help. So, I went through my pile of cards again, looking for themes that would pique the curiosity of my mother, the quintessential everyday person.

In the article "Canada's water: Hands off" we learn Canada has 1/5th of the world's water supply. That fact alone would excite my mother's interest, as it would any farmer's. We in New England live in a water rich area of the world, but it will not always be so, and this is something my mother is likely to read about in her local Wellfleet newspapers all the time. As the battle for lower gas prices rages in the US and Europe, the stirring of a battle for an even more fundamental resource, perhaps the fundamental resource, is rumbling just to our north. This could be the issue that finally eliminates the acronym confusion of NATO and NAFTA for Americans. Canada has to think of a creative way to prevent the export of its water that does not include the word "export." That would make water a tradable commodity and NAFTA regulations would come into play. I can picture my mother watching her young grandson play near the large vegetable gardens and I can see how she would be concerned about the scarcity of water for his vegetables in the not so distant future.

In "The Revolutions of 1989 Reconsidered," author Peter Rutland says "a degree of ambiguity, rather than heroism, hangs over the events of 1989" (149). My mother saw the construction of the Berlin Wall. And when it came down in 1989, she celebrated the freedom its dismantling would bring. However, that freedom comes at a price and the uncertainties left in the wake of the 1989 revolutions should remind her of how valuable freedom is and how it is too often taken for granted in this country. It should remind her. Whether it does or not is the essence of my proposition. If it does then therein lies the answer to getting people to pay attention to international relations; what goes on in other parts of the world does matter in every day life here. And if it does not remind her of the value of freedom, then how should I prod her memory?

There is one quote boldly circled on my pile of index cards that I could spend hours talking about with my mother, or anyone else for that matter. In the article "Columbia at War," author Michael Shifter makes note of the strong civil society in Columbia that has sprung up in resistance to the druglords. One such organization, the Permanent Assembly of Civil Society for Peace, has "brought together diverse sectors of Colombian society" (132), and it is here that the push for peace has been strongest. I went to the Web site, and though there is only a small bit in English, the words at the very top of the page are the most important. "It belongs to everyone, all the time. It is peace." That is why international relations belong in everyone's every day life.