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Economics Politics Geography History

Three players are countries/nations/territories, businesses/industries and communities. Countries have fixed geographical bounderies, while industries and communities are borderless. Each has been represented by a triangle, with in bigger triangle with three corners representing three basic forces geography, politics, and economics.

Three additional forces natural events, Science & technology and adaptation of living beings affect the overall model. All are interlinked and it will be wrong to consider individual items with out the effect of others.

eco geo model

Country or nation

  1. Country is made up of citizens or residents, holding travel and other documents like passport, residency IDs and so on. One is required to pay taxes and meet certain residency obligations, based on national laws
  2. Country and State are synonymous terms that both apply to self-governing political entities. Countries may be divided up into these smaller units to make managing their land and the affairs of their people easier. For example, a country may be divided into provinces, which, in turn, into municipalities; and so on. Provinces and State are are often used interchangeably. Country can be represented by its government which includes regulatory authorities.
  3. For ruling the country, any government needs people's support and cooperation. Government needs support of industry to generate wealth and provide goods, services and employment to people. Government is dependent on tax paid by people and businesses for its operational expenses and social welfare programs.

Businesses or Industries

Business is made up of Consumer; Trader; and Producer. Producer provide products and services to consumer directly or through middle men, traders.
Consumer Trader Producer

  1. People needs are: basic items (food, clothing, shelter); luxury items; and cultural items.
  2. Industries made up of worker; owner/investors; and managers/administrators
  3. Industry refers to any general business activity or commercial enterprise. Traditionally, industry means the aggregate of manufacturing or technically productive enterprises in a particular field like the automobile industry or the steel industry. Here we include trade, agriculture, manufacture or service in general.
  4. Any business needs government approval to operate and depends on consumers to buy their good and services. It is people who run these businesses as workers or owners. Businesses target their marketing campaigns using preferances of different communities.

People and Communities

Society divided based on birth (tribes/race); religion and belief system; language; traditions/cultures; and native or alien.
  1. Member of cultural community; belong to certain race or tribe; Mother tongue or competence in certain languages; Follow certain religion or faith; and so on
  2. The group of people having same identity or who connect well together socially or mentally, is called community. A community is an assemblage of populations interacting with one another. They can be small, larger or more extended communities such as a national community, international community and virtual community. The sense of connectedness through religion, languages and culture, leads to formation of social networks, comprising a community. Community development may involve sfoundations, governments, non-government organisations (NGOs), universities or social agencies.
  3. All communities made up of people, need governments permission to carry out their activities. All community activities will need resource support from government and business.

Political Economic Geography

Economic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the world. Geography focuses on industrial location, resource distribution and other quantitative methods. Now economic geography contains social, cultural, and institutional factors, which are linked to political economy. Thus Political Economic Geography is born.

Politics - a power game

Politics is a power game. Leaders will change completely after power and their earlier views need not be taken seriously. They are dictated by people who brought them to power.

All Societies have following types of people:

  1. Silent or Indifferent majority: For them it does not matter whoever rules. They will be from diverse background and affiliations.
  2. Illiterate majority (not bothered to understand or analyse facts) who can be bought with goodies or emotional speeches or attractive celebrities
  3. Aggressive minority (power thirsty), who want to grab political power
  4. Influential minority (with wealth and other resources) who are king makers from behind the scene
No type of government is perfect. It is difficult to have an ideal democracy. (Greek call it pebble logic.) Still democracy works for many countries.

Nations - Seat of Power

Nations and countries are dynamic and sitting or balancing on four legs:
  1. Land and resources (nature);
  2. Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Technology;
  3. Communication (Media, language etc); and
  4. Politics-religion-culture.

Ruling Throne is on four legs:

  1. Economic/Financial power brokers (with wealth and influence);
  2. Social big shots involved in religion, race, tribe, caste and community orgnizations;
  3. Media, celebrities/crowd pullers and publicity brokers (How ruler is seen by people); and
  4. Military/Law-order/Civil/administrative and Professional services.
Rulers have to balance these, many times using divide and rule principle.

Any system of government — is bad, without good governance and stability. Politicians and citizens should have determination to keep the government clean and incorruptible. Government should provide stable, safe and prosperous environment that offers fundamental human rights: life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, and the right to work and education.

Economics

An economic system is a system of production and exchange of goods and services as well as allocation of resources in a society. It includes the combination of the various institutions, agencies, entities and consumers that comprise the economic structure of a given community. Economic practices/relations are multiple, always incomplete, no stable rationalities or principles of agency.

Economic systems are commonly segmented by their ownership structure and property rights and by their dominant mechanism of resource allocation. Economies that are combine private ownership with market allocation are called "market capitalism", and economies that mix private ownership with economic planning are called "command capitalism". Likewise, systems that mix public or cooperative ownership of the means of production with economic planning are called "planned socialism", and systems that combine public or cooperative ownership with markets are designated as "market socialism".

Today the dominant form of economic organization at the global level is based on market-oriented mixed economies. In a capitalist economic system production is carried out for private profit, decisions regarding investment and the use of the means of production are determined by business owners in the marketplace. The means of production are owned primarily by private enterprises and decisions regarding production and investment determined by private owners in capital markets. Capitalist systems range from laissez-faire, with minimal government regulation and state enterprise, to regulated and social market systems, with the stated aim of ensuring "social justice" and a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Taxation is a mechanism, to pay for public services and help the needy or disadvantaged. It is REQUIRED.
But, It is also used to take care of wasteful inefficient public spending. Taxation is one of the ways to take money from people, who have saved and wanted to live simple, to pay for benefits who are not careful about spending and life style. Governments just waste people's savings to give some small benefits to selected people, used by Popular leaders to win and rule. They discourage self management and self-help, to make citizens dependent on them.
PROBLEM:
Governments do not have fair Income Tax system. They have no idea how to develop one. May be difficult. They just want to continue with mess and make it messier and just keep things going.

Whenever there are natural calamities or crisis like Covid-19, Some are making money and some are loosing (some thing like zero sum game). Governments help loosers and those affected by these events, with financial support, paid from taxes and others revenue. People who gained pay lesser share compared to people who have saved for old age or difficult times. Take money from savers/middle class to compensate some poor and some rich and businesses who can claim benefits.

Administrators and Leaders are not straight forward to accept it. They should better minimize taxes and charge for services based on usage. Savings systems should be there to save for old age and future uncertainities Will it be better if taxes are less and people pay for public services depending on their usage?
Will it be better if people are encouraged to save for difficult times/old age by assuring good interest/returns? Savings systems should be there to save for old age and future uncertainities

Geography

Geography plays a part in determining an area's economy. The geography of the world economy is changing. The new world economy is marked by competition between local clusters becoming global clusters or global value chains and global cities. The economy is in part breaking its links with territorially and politically constituted entities and creating spaces of its own. The reach of national governments ends at their external borders, which have largely ceased to constitute crucial boundaries to the transfer of money, goods, technology, and knowledge.

Along with its geography, the world economy's governance patterns are in the midst of a process of change: beyond classical international organisations like the IMF, global regimes like the WTO; global clubs like the International Stability Forum; globally operating firms, organising transnational production and trade networks; and, internationally active NGOs, negotiating with multinational corporations over social and ecological standards, are growing in significance – shaping the dynamics of the global economy. Against this background of growingly dense global inter-dependencies and transnational interactions in the world economy weare forced to readdress the issue of whether and to what extent economic development can be formulated and shaped by political means.

Performance Indicators

GDP (Gross domestic product) is the measure of the total economic output of the goods and services of a country. Nominal GDP is economic output without the inflation adjustment. GDP per capita is the total output divided by population, i.e., the average amount of money each person makes.

GDP (PPP) is GDP at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). PPP is the suitable and accepted way of measurement if you want to take standard of living within that country. Purchasing power parity is an economic theory that states that the exchange rate between two currencies is equal to the ratio of the currencies' respective purchasing power.

The GDP measures the nation’s economic performance because it is determined by the market value of all final goods and services. GDP does not subtract cost of cleaning due to production, but adds it.

Another important factor is work-life balance. Though some countries may have higher GDPs, the average work week may be very high. According to the UN International Labor Organization, working far more hours now than a generation ago, with a negative net increase in the standard of living.

Some of the researchers on the subject of happiness, Dr. Ed Diener and Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky and Dr. Martin Seligman, have concluded that beyond the basic level of necessities to support life, such as adequate, food, water, housing, the following things can increase happiness levels: meaningful close relationships; a positive, optimistic frame of mind; accepting responsibility for your life; being engaged in meaningful work; living in the present; and practicing an altruistic life, including gratitude, forgiveness and compassion.

Excessively focusing on economic indicators such as the GDP, assets and stock market indices takes our attention away from the real measurement of a country’s and people’s progress. Quality of life is not proportional to national production or consumption. The roots of conflict and violence within a nation are: Wealth without sincere work; Position without character; Business/commerce without ethics/morality; Technology/science without humanity; and Politics without principle.

Empire building

Empires, which has swallowed all the states, have been the dominant international organization in world history. This is in contrast to a federation, which is an extensive state voluntarily composed of autonomous states and peoples. An empire rules over territories outside of its original borders.

Empire-building refers to the tendency of countries and nations to acquire resources, land, and economic influence outside of their borders in order to expand their size, power, and wealth. In business, empire-building is the practice of enlarging sphere of authority or attempting to acquire greater power.

  1. Countries, businesses and communities all wants to extend power of influence and establish power centres as far as you can.
  2. Countries adopt trade, allies, colonialism, annexation and slavery to expand. Similarly business use joint ventures, acquisitions and take over tactics are used. Religions goes about converting people of other faiths. One community imposes their ideas on another community.
  3. Big size gives overall optimizaion and helps them to grow bigger still.
  4. Different strategies are: negotiate with equal; create fear on weakness and make them cooperate; divide members and penetrate the other group; make other groups weaker financially or resource wise to facilitate yake over; kill people or organizations; and hostile take overs.
  5. Globalization, Internationalization and global value chains are just empire building.

History

History of nations
  1. History, is that story of how Nations, Businesses and Communities evolve (change, grow and decay) over time.
  2. Nations, Businesses and Communities, change in size, composition every moment.
  3. All well grown empires have to dacay after some time, to be replaced by new empires. Nothing can be permanent or can last long
  4. Every one fights to win and if you do not, your opponent will and will subjugate you.
  5. History is written by winners. Loosers are responsible for war and all related problems. Winners are heroes and loosers are villains.
  6. In the end of competition and wars, two or three may become dominant players, dividing the other smaller ones to their allies
  7. Every one needs other one. So, some temporary stability will be established. This will sort of provide checks and balances for overall system.

Three Forces or Developments

(1) Natural and Created disasters have changed the course of human history.

(2) Science and Technology with new products and services.

(3) Evoloution of Living Things: Evolution is a change in the characteristics of living things over time. All animals including humans evolve/adopt for changing environments. A person 2000 years ago may not survive in today's environment and vice versa.

Natural & Created Disasters

Natural disasters have changed the course of human history. The links between these events and the social and economic changes afterward are intriguing. Natural disasters have led to some of our greatest innovations, to political unrest and to the destruction and creation of empires. Religious institutions have used these for destroying their competitors and popularizing their system. These have lead to massive human migrations and clashes of cultures/traditions, and ultimately, to the world we know today.
  1. Wars, Conflicts and weapons
  2. Pandemics
  3. Environmental disasters
  4. Fires, heat waves, solar storms
  5. Droughts, desertation
  6. Floods, landslides
  7. Cyclones, tornadoes
  8. Avalanches, ice storms
  9. Earthquakes, tsunamis
  10. Volcanic eruptions
The Mediterranean islands wiped out by a volcanic eruption eradicated the entire Minoan civilization around 1500 B.C. The Black Death, a pandemic caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, devastated Eurasia in the mid-14th century.

History or Evolution of Globalization

Internationalization has 3 components: Global firms; Alliances and Trade blocks; and World agencies such as UN, World bank and so on.
  1. Globalization, Internationalization and global value chains are just freedom for businesses to expand beyond borders.
  2. The modern system of free trade, free enterprise and market-based economies, actually emerged around 200 years ago, as one of the main engines of development for the Industrial Revolution.
  3. But from a global perspective, this free trade was accompanied by geopolitics making it look more like mercantilism. Nations and businesses compete for access to the resources required to produce goods/services and remain competitive.
  4. However, as businesses saw their profits diminish, economic liberalism was revived, hence the term “neoliberalism”.

Hunter Gatherer to Current

World Population over years in relation to technological/economic development. Prior to 1600, Tribals constitute major percentage of population (may be 90%). They have no over population problem. Now Tribals are reduced to less than 10% 95% of languages and cultures have disappeared from the globe.

Building empires

World has seen some of the greatest and vast empires. Large empires was very rare and short lived. For any country's border, one has to specify when, and during whose rule. Ten large empires in million Sqkm (period or year) are: 
1 British Empire	35.5 [1920 CE]
2 Mongol Empire		24.0 [1270/1309 CE]
3 Russian Empire	22.8 [1895 CE]
4 Qing dynasty		14.7 [1790 CE]
5 Spanish Empire	13.7 [1810 CE]
6 French empire		11.5[1920 CE]
7 Abbasid Caliphate	11.1 [750 CE]
8 Umayyad Caliphate	11.1 [720 CE]
9 Yuan dynasty		11.0 [1310 CE]
10 Xiongnu Empire	9.0 [176 BCE]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires
History, is all about change. Power has shifted repeatedly over time, moving from one civilization or one region of the planet to another. And in every case, its due to a combination of environmental, historical, and human factors. No one ever remains dominant for long.

Roughly 10,000 years ago, civilization began to emerge in few places like Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus valley, East Asia (China) and the Andes or Mesoamerica. Humans abandoned hunting and gathering and moved towards agriculture with river systems and fertile soil. Civilization is about agriculture, domesticated animals, metal-working, writing systems, large-scale political systems, currency and trade networks. Slowly the trend spread all over the world and continued for thousands of years.

Europa continued to benefit from advances imported from the more advanced civilizations from the East. These included modern numerals, gunpowder, the compass, paper, steel, blast-furnaces, and a great deal more classical learning that had been lost during the Dark Ages, which they got from the Arabs, Turks, Almohads, India and China. By 1500, Europe had reached a level-footing with these civilizations.

Spanish found Mexico and encountered the Aztecs, Mesoamerican civilizations and the Incas, which were militarily less-advanced, but more wealthy and had were advanced in terms of agriculture, construction, and urban planning. The import of this wealth to Europe led to a massive increase in standards of living, life expectancy, and fueled the explosion in trade and wealth. Europeans to begin to expand and colonize North America, import slaves from Africa, and eventually colonize every corner of the world.

By the 20th century, after centuries of expansion and colonization, the major European empires - clashed in a series of massive conflicts. By the end of this century, every continent is expected to have a comparable level of economic development, and we can expect that the latest in scientific and technological advances will come from not one, but all of them.

Conflicts and Peace

Harsh Realities

Migration from tribal culture to current ones has led to:
1) Drug/arms/oil revenues indirectly funds many dangerous groups.
2) Underground economy (weapons, drug, etc ) is 3 times the open economy.
3) Money spent for destruction may be 10 times the money spent for construction.

Global Village

Borders and divisions are human made. Nature creates only landscapes. Nature does not create national borders and laws. Natural laws are Universal laws, binding on all, whether one likes it or not.

Additional Notes

A republic is a king-less form of government that has no monarchy and no hereditary aristocracy. A republic need not be a democracy. In a republic, laws are made by representatives chosen by the people and must comply with a constitution that specifically protects the rights of all.

Constitution is written to take care of both majority and minority. In a pure democracy, laws are made directly by the voting majority.

Countries like New Zealand, UK, Australia and Canada do not have a one large document like the Constitution. Constitution is spread across a range of formal documents, decisions and conventions. These include:
1. Acts of Parliament;
2. Legal documents (‘Letters Patent’);
3. Decisions of the Courts;
4. Generally accepted practices or ‘conventions’.
These define what the major institutions of government are, what powers they have and how they can use them.

Animals to Humans

From Animals (Animalia), Humans (Humania) have branched out starting with stone age and hunter gatherers. In future there may be new branches.

Main difference between animals and Humans is LANGUAGE, SCIENCE and GREED.

Humans try to understand and mimic nature, for developing tools. As hunter gathers, resources were limited. But with agriculture, Resources as well as population expanded.

Humans domesticated animals, enslaved fellow humans, form large empires, etc. Financial system is offspring of greed. Tribes, Countries, Religion, etc... are all created to support Ruler-Rulled classification system.

GREED is diffference between need and unlimited want. Animals are close to nature, just living in present, and do not build large empires. An approximately constant ratio of number of predator species/number of prey species (predator-prey relationship)

"When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught people how to pray with eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible." [quote by Jomo Kenyatta]. That is how colonization and empire building has worked. 

WISDOM is to accept above REALITY (who we are Humans?).

Can not GO BACK! (become animals again is impossible)

Let us Live and let Live!
 
Let us minimize exploitation, if we can not eliminate it!
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Administrator:NARA is a Consultant by profession and an Engineer by qualification. Nara holds an Engineering Masters degree and have worked 25 years for leading organizations.
Now working part time on country/technology research projects and Maintaining community Web sites.
Spending more time to pursue his interests on studying: ancient scriptures; maths & astronomy; physics; philosophy; history & culture and so on.