Dayne-Marc Chin Slick

Part one of this issue fo-

cused on the ventures of

the students of the insti-

tute, part two focuses on

the endeavors and activi-

ties of the Institute. Stu-

dent programmes, ex-

periences and initiatives

of the Institute are just as

important as its students,

and its aims.

As technological global-

ization has brought news

of tragedy, and triumph

to the international com-

munity, the Institute is

nurturing an inquisitive

spirit by hosting its diplo-

matic dialogue series. It

is also contributing to

ever changing advances

and ideologies and in this

issue we focus on diplo-

macy in the 21st century.

I once again thank all

contributors.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Inside this issue:

Diplomatic Dialogues 2

Public Diplomacy for Global Governance

3, 5

Lessons from Bosnia 5, 7

Joanna Phillip 6

Commonwealth News 7

Internationalizing soca music

8, 8

Looking for the light 9

IIR TODAY The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine

Newsletter of the Institute of International Relations

Issue 15

INSTITUTIONAL

VENTURES

IIR TODAY - PART 2

Page 2

I IR TODAY

Principal Clement Sankat welcomes Ambassador Schlüter

Intended to be a regular event on our academic calendar, the Institute of Interna-tional Relations commenced a "Diplomatic Dialogues" series this semester on 24th February, with a session with the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Stefan Schlüter. An initiative of Ambassa-dor Schlüter in collaboration with IIR, this series is intended to regularise the en-gagement and interaction of IIR students, faculty and others with the practitioners of International Relations which the Institute has continually sought to ensure regular engagement with through special guest lectures and presentations within courses or as special singular events. The Institute continues to strive to provide academic enrichment through a struc-tured and systematic programme of events such as these and is encouraged by the support that it has received and continues to receive from the wider academic community, our Alumni, the Diplomatic Corps, Governmental, Regional and Inter-national Organisational representatives as well as representatives of Non Gov-ernmental Organisations (NGOs), the private sector and the civil society. We hope to continue to reflect this diversity of views and perspectives in the composi-tion of the panels for these sessions in the coming months.

At the session on 24th February speaking on the “German Role in Conflict Prevention and Peace Building” Am-bassador Schlüter indicated that peace missions need to have a more integrated and systematic approach not only on reacting to the incidents of conflict. He discussed the need for preventative diplomacy and for the focus of peace missions to incorporate and focus not only on the military force requirements but also for the integra-tion of civilian and judicial reform in conflict resolution. Mr. Schlüter was joined on the panel by the Institute’s own Dr. R. Mark Kirton who presented on “Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in the Hemisphere”. Both Ambassador Schulter and Dr. Kirton addressed in their discussion how these issues can affect the Caribbean and Latin American regions.

On 24th March, 2011 "Diplomatic Dialogues" will focus discussion around the issue of “How many BRICS?” looking at the recent invitation for South Africa to join the BRICs grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China. His Excellency Ambassador Yang Youming of the People’s Republic of China will be the lead speaker at this session. The Ambassador will be joined on the panel by Mr. Karabo Letlaka, Chargé d' Affaires of the South African High Commission and IIR Director, Professor Timothy M. Shaw.

Amb. Stefan Schlüter addresses the audience

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I IR TODAY

Public Diplomacy for Global Governance in the Second Decade of 21st Century?

Timothy M Shaw, Director

A related aspect of this new era is the diffusion of power states to other actors. The ‘rest’ that is rising includes many non-state actors. (Zakaria 2008: 4) Diplomats must now engage a vastly larger number of players in host countries as the age-old ‘club model’ of diplomacy gives way to a less hierarchical ‘network model’. (Heine 2006: vii) Private authority has become a popular theme of academic writing over the last decade. Yet, as with global gov-ernance research more generally, the literature has predominantly focused on the OECD world & neglected the role of developing societies as objects & subjects of private governance.(Dingwerth 2008: 625-6)

The world at the dawn of 2011 consists of more states, includes more private companies & civil societies in the global South & faces an exponential range global issues; hence the trend from international law/relations to global studies & from international organization to global governance. The analysis & practice of inter- or trans-national affairs are in flux even if some traditional scholars in the North have yet to realize. Certainly contemporary projec-tions by Goldman Sachs (www2.goldmansachs.com), the Boston Consulting Group (www.bcg.com) & HSBC (www.research.hsbc.com) point to a very different world by 2025/2050. The BRICs, Next-11, & VISTA increasingly challenge the established trans-Atlantic hegemony as captured in Parag Khanna’s ‘second world’ (2009) (www.paragkhanna.com) & Fareed Zakaria’s ‘the rest’ (2008) (www.fareedzakaria.com): not just states other than the US but also non-state actors, particularly MNCs & INGOs but also transnational communities/gangs/religions etc, as reflected in the increasingly broad range of titles in the Routledge series on ‘global institu-tions’ (www.routledge.com/books/series/global_institutions_GI/). And the turn of the decade ‘global’ financial crisis has accelerated the redistribution of resources & power from the trans-Atlantic North to the global South, espe-cially Asia. In turn, orthodox (white male-dominated?) ‘club diplomacy’ which focused exclusively on inter-state relations & inter-governmental organizations has been increasingly challenged by ‘network diplomacy’ which is more inclusive & representative (Heine 2006): recognition, communication, negotiation & evaluation by a range of heterogeneous non-state agencies. The latter, especially when stretched to ‘celebrity’ (Cooper 2008) or ‘guerilla’ diplomacy (Copeland 2009) (www.guerrilladiplomacy.com) along with cultural, economic & scientific diplomacy (‘soft power’?) can be subsumed under the concept of ‘public diplomacy’ (www.publicdiplomacy.org); it already has its own degrees (eg www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org), events & journals like ‘Public Diplomacy’ magazine (www.publicdiplomacymagazine.com) & the journal ‘Place Branding & Public Diplomacy’ (www.palgrave-journals.com).

Such public diplomacy has been advanced by new technologies (eg mobile phones/texting/ twitter/facebook etc) as well as new actors, especially within & around the global South. It has succeeded, especially in the post-bipolar era, in not only identifying myriad new ‘global issues’ but also in getting them recognized & treated. Perhaps the first such contemporary global coalition was the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (www.icbl.org) of 1500 actors which produced the ‘Ottawa Process’, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. By contrast, the ‘blood diamonds’ campaign brought together a major INGO – Global Witness (www.globalwitness.org) – with a minute Canadian one - Partnership Africa (www.pacweb.org) – leading to a major yet still fraught ‘Kimberley Proc-ess’ certification scheme for the artisanal diamond sector given its connections to very ‘dirty wars’. And as Klaus Dingwerth notes & laments, the World Commission on Dams (WCD) (www.dams.org) was the first & only such global commission to be organized from the global South – Cape Town - & to include commissioners representa-tive of non-state actors, corporate & civil society, as well as states & IOs (Khagram 2004).

Continued on page 5

LESSONS FROM BOSNIA: THE QUEST FOR PEACE by David Anyanwu (MPhi l Cand idate)

Page 4

I IR TODAY

The Balkans is an excellent case study for anyone that is interested in peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict transformation studies. Indeed the region has been at the centre of international relations dating back to the start of the First World War. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne by a member of the Serbian nationalist secret society – Black Hand triggered a chain implementation of Mutual Defense Alliances after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914. The post World War II era was also charac-terized by Yugoslavia’s association and split from Stalin and the Soviet Union and subsequent Cold War years. The role of the region is also noted in the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement by the former Yugoslav president Josip Tito and President Nehru of India in their quest to maintain a non-aligned position in the Cold War years. Yet, the region, particularly since the death of Tito has been marred by ethnic conflicts fuelled by national conscious-ness and exacerbated by detrimental leaders such as Slo-bodan Milosevic which culminated in the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina and later on in Kosovo in 1998. Since then, the international community has kept a watchful eye over the Balkan region, especially as Kosovo’s status remains unresolved two years after it declared independ-ence on February 17, 2008. I have just recently returned from Kosovo; having being invited by the American University in Kosovo (AUK) to par-ticipate in their month long intensive Summer School on

Peace Building and Conflict Transformation. What initially seemed like a laborious period of intense learning, quickly turned into an amazing month filled with knowledge and experience that I would not otherwise have been exposed to. In retrospect, many of the participants wondered why there was so much ado in the first few days about a lack of some of the amenities people had gotten used to and also probably taken for granted. Kosovo is really interesting – but you have to discover it to enjoy it. Kosovo has come a long way from 1999 to 2010. For this entire period, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has had unprecedented control over of a society which for most of 1999 was ravaged by ethnic based vio-lence between its two largest groups – Albanians and Serbs. The international presence in present day Kosovo is perhaps an indication of the commitment of the interna-tional community to not repeat the mistakes of Rwanda where they stood on the side and watched as thousands died. President Bill Clinton had talked often in the past about one of his biggest regrets was not acting in Rwanda.

From the beginning, the quest for viable peace in Kosovo has been hinged on four pillars. Politically, it has been about the reconciliation of not only the Serbs and the Al-banians, but also to reconcile the warring intra-Albanian political conflicts. In terms of security, the mission’s goal in Kosovo focused on stopping inter-ethnic killing and demo-bilizing paramilitary groups. It was about “sustainably transforming the Kosovo society from one that is domi-nated by lawless paramilitary groups to a situation where those forces could be contained, disarmed or even refash-ioned as a part of a legitimate government force.”

The connection between the Rule of law and the quest for viable peace in Kosovo is obvious because an important element in a working governance system is to ensure the security of citizens both rich and poor while also providing a peaceful alternative for resolving disputes especially in a post-conflict society where historical grievances and an-tagonism still exist. The quest for viable peace also posits the reduction and possible elimination of excessive impu-nity and injustice towards the protection of rights to live, properties and liberties especially those enshrined in inter-national law. The final goal is the Restoration of the eco-nomic system towards revenue collection and maximiza-tion.

The entire four weeks of the program at AUK was intense – jam-packed with as much as fifteen lecture sessions a week.

Continued on page 7

Page 5

IR TODAY

Public Diplomacy for Global Governance, continued

As an invaluable table in Dingwerth (2008: 628-630) indicates, there are myriad causes & forms & consequences of ‘private’ transnational governance schemes: Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) (www.ethicaltrade.org), Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) (www.eiti.org), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (www.fsc.org), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (www.globalreporting.org), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) (www.icann.org), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) (www.msc.org) etc. And through energetic public diplomacy, such forms of governance continue to evolve, so the network of SIDS generated AOSIS (www.sidsnet.org/aosis) to help inform the UNFCCC (www.unfccc.int). And the Kimberley Process has spawned the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) (www.ddiglobal.org) to advance the formalization of the informal & often illegal & criminal artisanal mining sector in the South.

However, notions of ‘emerging’ and ‘transnational’ are not uncontested as they can be refined in different disci-plines or genres: emerging economies/powers (Cooper & Antkiewicz 2008, Khanna 2009)/societies/states or transnational communities/companies/diasporas/gangs/networks etc? Together, new forms of advocacy, diplo-macy, governance, hierarchy & organization will compel innovative analysis from North as well as South as re-flected in the first title in a series on ‘Worlding without the West: International Relations Scholarship around the World (Tickner & Waever 2009)

Bibliography

Cooper, Andrew F (2008) Celerity Diplomacy (Boulder: Paradigm) --- & Agata Antkiewicz (eds) (2008) Emerging Powers in Global Governance (Waterloo: WLU Press for CIGI)

Copeland, Daryl (2009) Guerrilla Diplomacy: rethinking international relations (Boulder: Lynne Rienner) Dingwerth, Klaus (2008) ‘Private Transnational Governance & the Developing World: a comparative perspective’ International Studies Quarterly 52(3), September: 607-634 Heine, Jorge (2006) ‘On the Manner of Practising the New Diplomacy’ (Waterloo: CIGI. Working Paper #11) Khagram, Sanjeev (2004) Dams & Development: transnational struggles for water & power (Ithaca: Cornell Uni versity Press) Khanna, Parag (2009) The Second World: how emerging powers are redefining global competition in the 21st century (NY: Random House) Tickner, Arlene B & Ole Waever (eds) (2009) International Relations Scholarship Around the World (Abingdon: Routledge) Zakaria, Fareed (2008) The Post-American World (NY: Norton)

Joanna Phillip to Alma Jordan Library

If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed; If not, 'tis true this parting was well made.” William Shakespeare As of the March 15th, a person that is so familiar with the IIR Library that her name is virtually synony-mous with the IIR Library has left us to seek professional fortunes at the Alma Jordan Library (formerly the Main Library) of the UWI St Augustine Campus Libraries network. Joanna Phillip has been promoted and has assumed duties as a Library Assistant at the Alma Jordan Library.

Joanna joined the IIR Library staff some fifteen years ago fresh out of school and started her working life at the IIR Library under the watch of Yola Alleyne, the then Librarian. Cherill Farrell then assumed the role of Librarian in 1996 and saw Joanna grow as a student and a professional at the Institute. Joanna has a first degree in Government and International Relations and in 2007 completed her postgraduate diploma in International Relations. This year she will gain her masters in Global Studies.

Armed with a keen work ethic and experience in typewriting, word-processing and data entry, Joanna has been very instrumental in the continuous update and development of library resources and once a month diligently compiled a listing of ‘Recent Acquisitions’ which was disseminated by email to all in the first week of a every new month. Her will-ingness to learn and teach, coupled with her efficiency made her a valuable component in the execution of the work of the IIR Library. We all wish Joanna well as she steps unto the threshold of a new experience. Luckily for us, she won’t be too far away, we could still lean on the benefit of her experience and memory. Good luck Joanna!

‘Women as Agents of Change’ is 2011 Commonwealth Day theme

Theme will provide focus for global Commonwealth Day celebrations

which will take place on March 14 The Commonwealth has announced its theme for Commonwealth Day 2011, which will highlight “Women as Agents of Change‟. The Commonwealth will celebrate women whose work has made a positive difference to the lives of others, and will emphasise the Commonwealth message that by investing in women and girls we can accelerate social, economic and political progress in our member states. Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and the Commonwealth‟s first woman Chairperson-in-Office, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said: “From birth, to their first day in school, having a successful career – and everything in between – women and girls must be given the chance to succeed and become the agents of change we need. Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma was in agreement with Ms Persad-Bissessar. “Women and girls hold the key to sustained de-velopment and improving the lives of others. To change a woman‟s life for the better is to unlock the potential to change and lift a whole society,” he said. Mr Sharma continued: “The Commonwealth understands the crucial role that women play in their families, communities and in society at large. For nearly 40 years the Commonwealth has run programmes looking at women‟s access to health, education, enterprise, leadership, and the im-pact of conflict on them. “In the same year that International Women‟s Day celebrates its centenary, the Commonwealth will celebrate and highlight those women who are making a difference to the lives of others, as well as highlight the areas that are preventing women and girls from reaching their goals and fulfilling their potential. Together the people, societies and organisations of the Commonwealth can change the fortunes of women for the benefit of all. It is a right, not a gift.” The Commonwealth Day theme will be celebrated throughout the year around the 54-nation Commonwealth, with special events taking place dur-ing the week of Commonwealth Day (14-20 March). The website http://www.commonwealthday.org .

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I IR TODAY

Trinidad government names chair at UWI in memory of

Sir Ellis Clarke

by Global News Staff http://tiny.cc/bnbdh

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The Trini-dad and Tobago government has agreed to "endow Sir Ellis Clarke Chair in Commonwealth, Parliamentary and Constitutional Studies" at the University of the West Indies in his honour.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bisses-sar made the announcement while paying tribute to Sir Ellis at his funeral. She said that, as prime minister and current chair of the Commonwealth, she was deeply conscious on a per-sonal basis of his vast contribution to Trinidad and Tobago and the Com-monwealth, particularly in matters relat-ing to constitutional reform.

"This endowment will not only honour his work in a major field of government endeavour, but his legacy will continue to benefit students, researchers and scholars from all over the world in a field of study that was literally his pas-sion,” she added.

The Trinidad Guardian reported that principal of the St Augustine campus of the UWI, Professor Clement Sankar, said the honour was "a fitting tribute to Sir Ellis.”

"With this chair, the university itself will have a clear focus on matters pertain-ing to constitutional law, constitutional issues and be able to support thinking and thought on our government and our country," Sankar said.

The first president and late governor general of Trinidad and Tobago died on December 30, two days after he celebrated his 93rd birthday.

Bosnia, continued The program brought together students from different aca-demic backgrounds, former peacekeepers, journalists, laws and professionals from more than twenty different coun-tries. Besides the extensively addictive sipping of macchia-tos and cappuccinos in and outside the café, students could have been seen discussing anything from the history of the Balkans, Tito, the Albanian language, the Interna-tional Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision on the legality of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, to post-conflict devel-opment of Kosovo and the café life in charming Pristina. Side discussions also delved into the Iraq-Kurdistan’s autonomy, politics of the Black Sea, mediation and conflict reconciliation in places like Sierra Leone to the Niger Delta and of course career advancement opportunities with the multitude of international organizations in Kosovo. Indeed the history of the Kosovo conflict can be traced by back to the days of the Ottoman Rule some four hundred years ago when the Serbs unsuccessfully defended Ser-bia’s ancient empire against the Ottomans in the battle of 1389. Situated in the centre of Europe, Balkans is a region with a rich history of nationalism. Much like most of Africa, the region has witnessed several ethnic conflicts in the past two decades since the death of former Yugoslav leader Josip Tito - from Croatia to Bosnia- Herzegovina to Kosovo accentuated by nationalism and problematic power-sharing arrangements. Serbian nationalism thrived throughout the 20th century. This was certainly was a key factor that led to the First World War. Up until today, both Serbian and Albanian na-tionalisms are still fuelled by memories of history which in turn heightens tensions making peaceful reconciliation in the region a distant goal because of the sides’ inability to compromise. Of all the Balkan states, Albanians were the last to develop a modern national consciousness and also the last to achieve independence. Historians point to the Ottoman policy and the nature of Albanians under the Otto-man rule as reasons for the delay in the development of national consciousness and the nature nationalism. Lecture sessions at AUK were not exactly filled with boring lectures; because through group simulations and exercises they created praxis between theoretical and practical as-pects of the topics, allowing participants to develop a comprehensive under-standing of the nature and process of peacekeeping and development from the preoperational phases to end states in the “living laboratory” that is Prishtina, Kosovo. More im-portantly, these lectures were facilitated by real practitio-ners with specialized experience such as, John Durance, a former academic director of the NATO Defense College and commander of the NATO defense forces in Mace-donia, who lectured in areas spanning security and strategy studies. Mike Dzeidzic, economic and political strategy planner for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) spoke on military peacekeeping operation missions around the world.

The security class was also taught by the exuberant Mike Hess, who was a strategic planner for interventions in Kosovo and also in Iraq; and with John Covey, special deputy to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Learning about the history of the Balkans could not have been more interesting with Louis Sell, a professor and for-mer US diplomat that spent more than 20 years serving in different positions in the region; and Shaun Brynes, a US career diplomat who served many years in the region.

Underlying the broadened nature of security in the 21st century, there were also lectures and specialized panel sessions on social development projects and economic development in Kosovo led by the director of the program, Bill Wechsler who did an excellent job of putting peace-building and development in a comparative global context. Participants also benefited from the expertise of different guest lecturers from various international organizations based in Kosovo such as the Red Cross, the International Crisis Organization, and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). Other contributors include USAID officers, professors from both the University of the West Indies and the London School of Economics as well as my contribution to a panel that discussed multicultural-ism in Trinidad and Tobago

Some of the weekends were spent on excursions to differ-ent historic parts of Kosovo such as Peja, the Decani Monastery, and Prizren the first capital of Kosovo. Al-though the realness of the conflict meant that the trip to Mitrovica (a municipality in the north of Kosovo and one of the more volatile areas of the country) was cancelled fol-lowing US state department advisory about visiting the area in the wake of the ICJ ruling which found that Kos-ovo’s declaration of Independence on 27 February 2008 was not illegal. In order to get unbiased accounts of the Kosovo conflict, some participants had the opportunity to spend four days in Belgrade, Serbia were they not only benefited for highly experienced practitioners, but also visited sites of NATO bombing and the Tito Museum in Belgrade.

Kosovo is without doubt a case study of the clash between a 19th century Albanian nationalism educated for the first time and a 20th century Serbian nationalism refusing to compromise. Despite the diversity in views of the partici-pants from as far as Nepal, Canada, the US, Kurdish-Iraq, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Serbia and Kosovo; plus the demanding program content, participants also made time to visit internally displaced persons in different parts of Kosovo. It was indeed a wonderful experience that will continue to add new dimensions to my professional devel-opment. Without doubt, it is that diversity in perspectives, history, and experience that made the program a success.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the director of IIR, Professor Timothy Shaw and the Director of the Interna-tional Office for facilitating my participation in this program. I also thank the Deputy Dean, Dr Linda Hadeed and the Office of Graduate Studies for their support.

As the 2011 Carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago has con-cluded and the reign of the Merry Monarch packs up to be unclothed next year 2012, a sober analysis is

in order regarding the International Soca Monarch event, focusing primarily on the “international” dimension as part of a thrust to promote the cultural industries as an economic alternative in this Small Island Developing State (SID). The $2 million cash-in sponsored by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago must be taken against the backdrop of a significant investment in the cultural art form. However one wonders: how productive and beneficial was this investment in terms of a possible multiplier effect in promoting our tourism product? What other spillover effects would this have for the cultural sector as a whole and rendering our entertainment in-dustry palatable for international consumption? One cannot deny that trailblazers like Calypso Rose, and the Dr. Slinger “Sparrow” Francisco among other internationally known artistes from Trinidad and Tobago and in the region have led the way in this regard, as well as our soca artistes and other cultural workers have per-formed worldwide in various Trini-style carnivals, but how do we take soca and our entertainment industry to the next level? The argument put forward here is that for the cultural expression to be made viable on an interna-tional scale certain standards must be put in place and an end to the “seasonalizing” of soca must be effectively championed. The political economy of this year's competition was very evident It is my respectful view that in fact this year's competition despite the hype of it being perhaps the best in its history engendered unhealthy and unpro-ductive banter among the performers rendering the overall presentation of low quality despite the good qual-ity music produced in 2011. One could conclude that this diverted much attention and effort from the entertain-ment (the actual product being offered) and presenting soca music to the world. Though the lay tourist and international viewer may not be privy to the behind the scenes’ bacchanal and would not even care about such, we have to take keen cogni-zance of this $2 million investment. Indeed, it becomes necessary to look at the value added and the benefits that this would bring. But overall the show as an 'international' event would not have met expectations of the local public as well as the international and diasporic

communities who were very much privy to the event via online internet streaming. Some vital questions thus need to be asked:

1. Did this investment prove to be worthwhile or sustain-able for the industry? 2. What add-on or other positive effects to the cultural sector as a tourist product did this create? 4. Has it contributed to achieving the long articulated goal of taking soca on the international stage?

Indeed, one understands that the cultural industries benefit largely compared to yesteryear from technologies and link-ages which can be created, in turn bringing in revenue for the country. In this regard, the Trinidad and Tobago Enter-tainment Company (TTEnt) a state-funded enterprise made use of these platforms. How effective were the latter would definitely require a different type of analysis. Additionally it begs the question: what pre-show marketing mechanisms were in place for such an event and how do we make opti-mal and effective use of them to increase possible market share for our cultural products and to brand Trinidad and Tobago internationally? In addition, standards for our entertainment industry remain virtually absent. It therefore becomes necessary that if such monies are to be recurrently expended yearly, particular goals and standards need to be set for the ins-and-outs of the industry, for the artists, producers, promoters and other stakeholders, not as a means of stifling creativity or innova-tion but to ensure that quality products and shows are pro-duced and that artistes do not simply enter competitions without proper guidelines or a clear understanding of the bigger picture. However a major hurdle still persists: recognition of the im-portance of our local music content to the extent that we should ensure their “playability” throughout the year in our mediascape?

Image © http://onecaribbeanradiohd2.blogspot.com/2010/08/reggae-v-soca.html

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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Internationalizing soca music: standard setting and the “seasonalization” effect

By Keston Perry (PG Diploma Student)

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I IR TODAY

Internationalizing soca music, continued

A corollary to this is the “seasonalization” effect whereby local music peaks mainly at Carnival time and takes a dive thereafter, to be supplanted by dancehall and other urban forms on the most popular radio frequencies. The argu-ment that the Lenten season should not be corrupted by this “music” (our music) is no longer tenable, and its ve-racity questionable especially if we take account of the lyrical content of those forms just mentioned from which it is taken over. One admits that indeed the competition has grown in magnitude in terms of the style and scope of presenta-tions but is this level of expenditure sustainable? Though

the following considerations may not have been neces-sarily made for this year’s competition, they nevertheless need highlighting: is there a developmental plan for up and coming artistes to further develop the sector? Are the winners obligated to participate in said programmes or other conceived interventions for the development of the arts as commercially viable and internationally mar-ketable? Has this event in fact whet the appetite of the international spectators to provoke them to purchase our cultural products? This article highlights a number of questions which remain unanswered that should be at-tended to in order to make effective use of expenditures allocated and to promote our cultural industries in our diversification thrust.

OMG! Why are they trying to make our brains melt?” was a common complaint heard through-out the Institute (and by that, I mean by me) this semester. As a first time UWI student en-rolled in the Postgraduate Diploma Programme here at the Institute of International Relations (IIR), it has been a bit overwhelming to be a full time student, a grievance shared with most of my classmates. Sure, Tamara from the library has tried to convince us that it’s actually better to have to have an overloaded schedule because we learn more. She may be right, but I’ll be a skeptic until I’m finished in May.

Coming from an English Literature/Liberal Arts background, I did study a fair amount of politics in my undergrad hey-day, however not so much in international relations/institutions. I’ve learned that this lack of IR knowledge will appar-ently irk a certain finance professor so much that a question posed by an oblivious student, such as “What’s the differ-ence again between the IMF and the World Bank?” could be hazardous to his health �. Now I’m not admitting that this oblivious student was me, but if it was (really, it’s not), I’d apologize for not being diligent enough with the reading. Per-haps if Derek Walcott had written a poem about the IMF, I’d have been more prepared. In fact, conversations with Pro-fessor Ramsaran about finance, his experiences during Trinidad’s IMF crisis and the like have been the most fascinat-ing and I am sorry he will be leaving soon, as future IR students will miss out. My other lecturers so far have been great and I recommend for everyone to take French in order to experience the bundle of exuberance that is Professor Bukari. Aside from insanely packed schedules, IIR offers so many academic/networking opportunities for students in the form of seminars, mentorships, internships and pending trips to Brazil this summer. Having come from a US educational background, one element that I am not used to here at UWI is the insane weight given to final exams, something the whole of Trinidad’s educational system seems to have a penchant for. Personally, I tend to do better on coursework than exams, and seemed to have struggled a lot with the grueling exam schedule. I will definitely be trying to prepare better and earlier for this upcoming semester and hopefully I will have gotten a han-dle on it in time for the next round of torture in May². Of course I know this one, the IMF provides short term loans for countries experiencing balance of payment problems, while the WB gives loans for development projects. ²Something I’ve learned is against international law, according to the UN, btw…

Looking for the Light at the End of the Tunnel:

My IIR Experience So Far

By Karen Seegobin (PG Diploma Student)

INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL

RELATIONS

MEET THE NEW I IR TODAY EDITORIAL COMMITTEE 2010-2011

Editor:

Dayne-Marc Chin Slick

Editorial Committee:

Josanne Warner

Kimlee Bunraj

Karen Seegobin

Chair of the Committee:

Prof Timothy Shaw

Email: iirtoday@sta.uwi.edu

Email: iirt@sta.uwi.edu

Telephone: (868) 662 2002 ext 2084, 2011,3235

http://sta.uwi.edu/iir/