3 Article Summary

Power Polarity, Preponderance and War Between Great Powers, 1816-1989
Author: William Moul
The Journal of Conflict Resolution
Source: Jstor

The article talks about the classical balance of power theory, where the core belief lies in the fact that rivaling power parity tends to amount to conflicts. This theory believe that competition will drive conflicts where one side will try to exceed the other in terms of power: influence, technological superiority and wealth. This article represents the evidence of power struggle which led to the beginning of  World War I, World War II and the Cold war. This article also represented the conflictual relationship between what the author perceived between strong power and weak power where one party's survival is ensured by subduing one another. The balance power represents one nation's security dilemma if one power becomes to great of a threat which will result on the counterbalancing of that power or doing a pre-emptive strike.

The Place Of Power In Political Discourse
Author: Saul Newman
International Political Science Review
Source: Jstor

The article focuses on the aspect of the source of power instead of focusing on the relationship of power. The author refers to Hobbes where the highest political authority lies on central power or the state. The power lies symbolically lies in the highest political body or executive branch which determines a group or society's group course of action. If centered within the highest hierarchical society located within a state the aspects that determine power would be the leadership, human resources and indirect political influence outside terretorial boundaries. It also analyzes the interaction of two opposing powers by the the conflict of hierarchical struggle where one tries to mobilize socially in the power hierarchy that's established within inter state relations.

When Power Changes Hands: The Political Psychology Of Leadership Succession In Democracy
Author: Fredrik Bynander
Political Psychology
Source: Jstor

Leadership plays an important role on the projection of power within state boundaries or outside its boundaries. Leadership is seen as a subjective thing because types of leadership varies from people from people and many aspects can directly determines the success of a particular leadership like mental state, physical state, leadership ingenuity and pro activeness. Values also plays an important role in determining leadership where the formulation of goal is concerned because various individuals have various perspective

Fan Fiction: Foundation Series

My first time ever writing a fan fiction and whats worst of it is for a novel that i don't particularly like! if it were not for the grades i wouldn't even consider it but i will do my best anyways. Well here it goes! please bare with me on this, the story takes place after professor Seldon's and all of the other supporters of the Seldon Theory are about to be exiled into Terminus using  Gaal as the main protagonist. He is the character i chose to use due to his surprising revelations upon arriving on Trantor that he along with other scientist are going to be exiled to Terminus. The method that i would use would be the position of a third person speaker instead of the first person method that Asimov used in narrating his stories.

It all happened so suddenly, as Gaal contemplated what was going on. Here he was a mathematician that was suppose to get a job under Seldon as a assistant lecturer in the University of Trantor soon realized that he was about to be exiled within six months time to an isolated planet based solely on one senile old man's farfetched prediction. He himself found it hard to believe that the Galactic empire with all its glory could ever fall. He scratched his head in frustration unable to process what was unfolding before him as he waited in Seldon empty dimly lit office room within the University. Trying to make sense of the situation only drives him to further frustration, several things comes to mind immediately as thoughts raced across his head: how could one coordinate a wide scale exodus of thousands of families into one remote planet in only six months worth of preparation? how would a population solely based on scientific research and people of science thrive at all? He paced the room anxiously awaiting Seldon's return, Seldon said that he has a short errand to attend to and said that he will only be gone for around 15 minutes. An hour has passed with no signs of Seldon at all, Gaal still has so many questions flying around his head and waiting seems to further agitate him.
After what seems like several hours way into the night finally Seldon emerged through the door with a weary face. He gave Gaal a weak smile before he seated himself to the nearest couch helping himself to pack of biscuits lying on the small wooden table. He took a deep breath and finally said "im sure, there is a lot of questions you would like to ask me, but i promise you there are more important things to concern ourselves within due time". Gaal finally asked "has the news spread yet to other scientists and their families that are working for you?" Seldon gave a light chuckle and said "thats exactly what im going to entrust you". Gaal was slightly upset at this point, here he is still many questions unanswered and Seldon seems to enjoy planning things for him to do without even as much consulting him with it.
Seldon begins to speak "massive migration on this scale has never been done throughout the galaxy's history, this will be the first. To this extent we should begin coordination at this very minute if we were to be prepared in six months time, there isn't a moment to spare" he then added "you along with other assigned people will go around and spread the news about our exile, to the people and families working under me" Gaal then interrupted "do you realize how long that will take? and how am i suppose to give them the news that they are soon to be exiled solely on your predictions alone", Seldon replied casually "you wont, encounter any problems while conveying the messages, as they all mostly men of science who clearly sees the validity of my theories. And believe me when i say the empire will be hounding and threatening the lives of people that are under me and exile is the only plausible option would be to accept exile". Gaal blurted out "isn't that selfish of you? your determining the fate of thousand of lives here! do you realize that you're asking us to leave our homes and most of our possessions based solely on a prediction, due to happen centuries of come!". Seldon stared blankly at the wall with a dark expression as though thinking about the notion himself he hesitated for a moment before finally saying "the fate of the entire civilization is in our hands, we will preserve all of humanities progress and achievement as the empire fall into barbarism. I stake my honor on it, the empire will fall with nothing to prevent it and the only thing we could do is shorten the length of barbarism. Think of all the human knowledge that will be lost the notion of progress and development that were to be lost if we don't undertake this important task. This is the only thing we could do to save the future of humanity". he continued "i will establish a functioning community there call it a refugee camp if you like of several scientists and their families protected by our technological advances as the empire slowly decays"
Gaal contemplated at Seldon's words there was a hint of truth and sincerity in his words so he finally gave his thoughts a rest at least for a while. Gaal finally interjected "ok, so what could i do to help?" Finally Seldon  smiled and said "your task my boy, is to travel as envoy along with other people i have assigned with to spread the words and find researchers capable of building an entire civilization out of limited resources. From there we could begin and talk about building a fully functioning society based on scientific research and development. But remember time is of the essence". Gaal spend the entire knight in seldon's office listening to his revolutionary ideas about starting a civilization from scratch, he had to admit that this man is of superior intellect his ideas are bold and eye raising and for the first time upon arriving at Trantor Gaal felt needed as he is a part of this grand scheme that will determine the fate of every human being within the empire's borders.
The next day on the spaceship terminal Gaal waited for the next flight that would take him out of Trantor which will ultimately begin his journey. Here he is a regional boy taking part in large plot to save humanity all of this seems exciting for him he took one last glance back to trantor before boarding his ship. He exhaled and said to himself "and so t begins" with a small smirk on his face.

The Foundation Series By Isaac Asimov

  



So i managed to read three of these book for more or less 5 weeks given time. Usually, I wouldnt consider the sci-fi genre at the top of my reading list but i was supposed to read it nevertheless (thank you professor!). Overall these three books are short by my standards since im used to bigger books, but the complexity, depth and time period sequencing in these books is not for your average reader! I myself had to go through the pages numerous times in order to understand what is actually going on! So in this entry im going to talk about these three books a little bit which i spend a significant ammount of time on.
The plot of the story revolves around The Galactic Emipire which territory stretches to the far reaches of the galaxy promoting order and stability and a prophet like charachter called Hari Seldon which predicted its downfall and decline while its remnants will eventually fall into barbarism. Hari Seldon prediction is considered treason by the empire's commision of public safety and eventually led him to be labeled as a traitor which ultimately led to his exile along with other people supporting his ideas as well as their families to a remote and desolete planet called Terminus on the edges of the emipre's borders. Here, Hari Seldon among with various exiled scientists tried to build a scientific haven preserving the emipires civilization by compiling a big book of knowledge called the Encyclopedia Galactica if the empire were to fall with the hopes of receeding the period of barbarism to come after the empire's downfall.
The story's depths revolves around the the complicated plot on how the foundation in Terminus survived and became a dominant power in the galaxy by promoting technogical know-how to various planets within its periphery, and by doing so subduing would be agressors which ensured its safety while the empire steadily decline. The character although numerous as the story progresses, also contributed to the story's overall depth by shaping the events that came into play and how those character's interacation resonated with the overall plot as events unfold. While there are too many characters to name overall which i found fascinating about these series is how each and every foundation leader contributed greatly in ensuring the foundation's survival either by detering hostiles or peacefull anaxation of other planets. For me two characters come to mind: Salvador Hardin and Hobber Marrow.
There is also a deep political aspect in this book which im quite fammiliar with which relates to the fields of international relations given my current major. It describes the aspects of hard power and soft power possesed by the foundation in which ensures its survival. Firstly by soft power i mean on how other planets depended on the foundation's technology for survival and by hard power would be the foundation's possesion of atomic energy which other planet feared as being atomic weapons. Ultimately this led to the foundation being an hegemonic power in the corner of the galaxy. Another political aspect which i found while reading these books is the politicians which shaped the foundations policy in relating with external threat where some people beleived the foundation should strengthen its military while others beleive that the foundation should subdue its enemies without any violonce. This corelates with true events we see happening on our world and judging by the overall political spect of this, Isaac Asimov must be inspired by the events happening during the cold war.
The story's overall suspense for me at least lies in the events unfolding when the foundation faces would be agressors and then later on detering them "peacefully". Overall this book has an overall plot where many readers will find overwhelming with information, too fast paced and a lack of significant characters. My guess would be that the characters the author made for this book only compliments the overall plot, and generally speaking it is likely that the plot itself is the story given the less ammount off  time the author gave in describing and developing some of the numerous characters in the book. My final conclussion for this book is clever plot, fast paced and unmemorable characters with my personal grade of 3/5 stars.