Fayyad Is Not the Problem, but Fayyadism Is Not the Solution to Palestine’s Political Crisis

[ProgressiveMuslim]

American policy makers have learned the hard way in Iraq and Afghanistan the costs of pretending that strong institutions and viable political processes are emerging; in both cases the institutions and processes actually being built sometimes had too loose a connection to politics on the ground. U.S. leaders have learned the mistakes of relying too heavily on attractive local interlocutors and treating them as surrogates for genuine institutional development and deeply-rooted political processes.

But those lessons are being forgotten in Palestine. Relying on “Fayyadism”—Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s program to build a Palestinian state despite occupation and internal division—alone will likely lead to failure and disappointment. Technocratic management can probably keep Palestinian institutions afloat and even improve their functioning in some limited ways. But it does not even pretend to offer a solution for the deeper problems afflicting Palestinian politics—division, repression, occupation, alienation, and wide-reaching institutional decay.

read on...
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=41585

[Dick Dastardly]

1. When someone starts talking about Ism's, my bullshit detector goes off.

"Ism's in my opinion are not good
A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus." -Ferris Bueller

[Violet_Crumble]

3. The same bullshit detector happens for me when someone quotes John Lennon...

And let's not even get started on Ferris Bueller and the unpleasant taste of the 80's that leaves in my mouth ;)

[ConsAreLiars]

2. A quite informative and detailed commentary on "how things work, or don't" in that unique

place/time context. Well worth reading carefully by any who hope for a better future for the people living in that region.

Refusing to read it because the essay included 3 letters in sequence, i, s, and m -- well, that sort of mindset would leave one totally ignorant of almost everything, which, I guess, is the highest aspiration of some. Fanaticism, partisanism, authoritarianism, antisemitism, fascism, liberalism, humanitarianism, humanism. Buddhism, atheism as well as all the deist religious -isms, and so on forever.

Some say a closed mind is better than none at all. Some say worse.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. Thanks for posting that, PM. It's an excellent read...

Good to see you again as well :)