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Wednesday, March 27, 2019

The Organic Nature of Political Ideas


the AZEL

PERSPECTIVE

Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 171
 

The Organic Nature of Political Ideas

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In the spring of 2018, I spent several weeks traveling throughout Southeast Asia visiting Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand to study the organic nature of the political ideas governing these regimes.
Politically, Laos and Vietnam are Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republics, presumably in some state of undefined transition.  Cambodia is a former French protectorate, and is currently a “vaguely communist, free-market state with an authoritarian coalition ruling over a superficial democracy” (David Roberts-Human Rights Watch). Thailand is nominally a constitutional monarchy, at this time under military dictatorship.

Economically, Thailand is a newly industrialized economy ranked, by metrics of purchasing power parity (PPP), as number 72 in the world. Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, are ranked numbers 121, 125, and 141 respectively by PPP.  (For reference, the United States is ranked as #11 by PPP).

Following World War II Thailand became a key anti-communist U.S ally in the region, and has alternated between democracy and military rule.  In Laos, the ruling Marxist-Leninist People’s Revolutionary Party is dominated by military figures. Cambodia’s history includes the genocide of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge (1975-79), and has been ruled since 1997 by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People’s Party. Vietnam, unified following the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, initiated a series of economic reforms in 1986 under the direction of the Communist Party.

When we study the history of a country, the pedagogical approach is sequential and linear. That is, we study one event neatly following another. But history, and in particular the history of political ideas, is much more interrelated and non-linear.  The history of ideas is not a simple succession of one idea following, and entirely replacing, another idea.  This was a central point of the dialectical approach of German philosopher Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831).

Hegel’s dialectical method consisted of a beginning proposition or thesis, followed by a negation or antithesis. The antithesis did not replace the thesis, but rather the two conflicting ideas (thesis and antithesis) were reconciled into a new proposition called a synthesis. And then, the process began again with the synthesis becoming the new thesis. This thesis-antithesis-synthesis triad was later extended rather abnormally by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels into their “Dialectical Materialism.”

But as Hegel saw it, political ideas are organic. Our political experience is always rotted in the past and feeds from it.  Let’s keep this concept in mind as we think of countries transitioning from one political system to another. The Hegelian view is that a new government, even if it is diametrically opposed to the policies of its predecessor, cannot philosophically obliterate and entirely replace the previous governing philosophy.

The antithesis will not replace the thesis but rather, out of the two, a new synthesis will emerge that incorporates a great deal of the old. Hegel doubted that a complete break with the past was politically possible.

This failure of a decisive politico-economic break with the past was evident in my recent visit to Southeast Asia. Conceptually I had witnessed the same efforts to combine elements of the communist past with a new politico-economic system in earlier visits to Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Governments may be overthrown, but systems of ideas of government are never completely replaced resulting in philosophically hybrid regimes. New governments are never completely detached from the past. Such is the organic history of ideas.

As a Cuban-American political exile, who views individual freedoms as the highest political value, it saddened me to witness in these countries politico-economic systems that some observers offer as viable models for a post-communist Cuba: A market-oriented military dictatorship such as in Thailand, or oppressive collectivist regimes like those in Laos, Cambodia, or Vietnam.

I find none of these acceptable. And yet, if Hegel was right, and political ideas are organic and always attached to the past, a new politico-economic idea cannot entirely replace another politico-economic system. Thus, post-communist Cuba will likely be a politico-economic synthesis of a communist thesis and a capitalist antithesis, not unlike those I visited in Southeast Asia.  I pray not, for this is a sad and unpromising future.

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Abrazos,
 
Lily & José
 
(click on the name to email Lily or Jose)
José Azel, Ph.D.
José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.

He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies. Formerly, a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami, Jose Azel has published extensively on Cuba related topics.

In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami.

José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp.

They cycled St. James Way (
El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast and in the Galapagos Islands.

Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them. 
Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro.

Books by Dr. José Azel
"Liberty for beginners is much more than what the title promises. It is eighty themes touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone that wishes to understand why countries do, or do not progress, will find in this book the best explanations.
If it was in my power, this work would be required reading for all college and university students, and I would recommend its reading to politicians, journalists, and policymakers. With this book Azel accomplishes what was achieved in France by Frédéric Bastiat, and in the United States by Henry Hazlitt: brings together common sense with intelligent observation, and academic substance. Stupendous"
Carlos Alberto Montaner
"Libertad para novatos es mucho más de lo que promete el título. Son ochenta temas tocados con la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquier adulto que desee saber por qué progresan o se estancan los pueblos aquí encontrará las mejores explicaciones.
Si estuviera en mis manos, esta obra sería lectura obligatoria de todos los estudiantes, tanto de bachillerato como universitarios, pero, además, se la recomendaría a todos los políticos y periodistas, a todos los policy makers. Azel logra con este libro lo que Frédéric Bastiat consiguiera en Francia y Henry Hazlitt en Estados Unidos: aunar el sentido común, la observación inteligente y la enjundia académica. Estupendo."
Carlos Alberto Montaner
In Reflections on FreedomJosé Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles.
En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico.
Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future.
Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish.
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