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I'm not sure exactly -- hence my questions regarding the Middle-Eastern historical experience. Having said that, clearly there must be significant differences given (1) their divergent institutional orders and social hierarchies in the pre-colonial era; (2) their divergent colonial...

Not really sure... started it ages ago and then got distracted by something new. It's staring at me from my bookshelf so maybe I'll give it another shot soon. Have you read any Garcia Marquez like One Hundred Years of Solitude? I really love the blending of 'real' world with strange - magical -...

Fair enough, each to their own i guess. Still I'm surprised, everyone I've spoken to about it before found it enjoyable... (I read it while I was travelling in South America which probably added to its kinda real-/surreal-ness).

While I'm at it has anyone read any of Louis de Bernieres stuff pre Captain Corelli's Mandolin? His first major work was a trilogy of books set in a fictitious Latin American country replete with revolutionaries, indigenous villagers, corrupt army and police, shamans, ineffectual politicians...

I've just finished a novel set in Nigeria at the time of the Biafra war. CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE - 'HALF OF A YELLOW SUN'. A masterly, haunting new novel from a writer heralded by The Washington Post Book World as "the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe," Half of a Yellow Sun recreates...

These weren't meant as rhetorical questions -- i was hoping you might have a bash at answering them ;)

I think that we can see different trajectories in other regions because the developmental process is affected by two sets of factors: 1. The internal - i.e. the preexisiting institutional order and the specific social hierarchies and modes of production and administration. 2. The external - i.e...

So what's your considered view of Lustick's hard line approach Vim?

Had any thoughts on this Vim? Lustick is suggesting that a combination of (1) Western interventions along either geo-political or humanitarian lines; and (2) international "antibelligerency" norms, have prevented the process of strong state formation in the Mid-East. Regional wars have not...

Not had a chance to listen to that yet (or the Romer one for that matter) but yeah from what I've read elsewhere i think its fair to say that there's no love lost between Collier and Easterly. grok? typo or whatever... i don't understand :confused:

Agreed. But can you elaborate more on this: Did my previous post answer your questions?

Some thoughts - Firms arise to take advantage of economies of scale and to reduce transaction costs. There certainly are parallels with this 'theory of the firm' and the Tilly thesis on the rise of the modern state. As Tilly argues (drawing on the work of Frederic Lane): the very activity of...

Yeah you're right i was selective with my choice of quote. But not sure how to reconcile this bit: 'So we would have a Britain-friendly supplementary Sharia and a “market element” in law for those who freely chose it - and who, sensibly, could object to that?', with his conclusions later on.

Good peice by David Aaronovitch in the Times today: 'I've read it so you don't have to' Perhaps it's the fact that the Archbishop genuinely is holier than us that has contributed to the exuberant pleasure it has given so many people to misrepresent so violently what the poor man was saying. Or...

My use of the word illegimimate was meant in the sense that they are not currently recognised by the state. But i don't think they are/should be considered illegal but rather extralegal - private arbitration which some muslims choose to use BUT which is not binding in a judicial court and thus...

:D

I don't see that way. Who is 'bending the rules' or 'turning a blind eye' in the current scenario? If people choose to get private arbitration and all commit to accept and uphold the 'verdict' then there's nothing illegal going on. Its like me and a mate agreeing to have a mutual friend...

Fair enough. Do you both think that this is inevitable or just the worst case scenario? Edit: And thus a totally bad idea that should be shot-down before it takes off? From what i heard on the radio yesterday these (currently) illegitimate courts are already operating in some places in Britain...

Yeah i guess so. But I do think that there is some validity in this point: What Dr Williams is saying is that we all have overlapping identities. It is possible to be a British citizen, a Muslim, a Tory and a member of the local golf club at the same time. Each of these identities brings with...

From this article in the independent today: However, this is, Dr Williams suggests, a travesty of the truth. What sharia means, and most Islamic jurists agree, he tells us, is not a list of laws but a way of thinking that expresses the universal principles of Islam. Codifications of that law...