The Scholar's Stage

Institutions, Instruments, and the Innovator’s Dilemma

01 March, 2013Complex Systems, Monied Interests, Political Theory

I have written several posts that use Carol Quigly’s “institutional imperative” as a lens for understanding contemporary events. [1] Mr. Quigly suggests that all human organizations fit into one of two types: instruments and institutions. Instruments are those organizations whose role is limited to the function they were designed to perform.(Think NASA in the 1960s, defined […]

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Strategy Is Who You Are

27 February, 2013Culture, History, Narrative, Possessions For All Time, Steppe and Sown, Strategy, The Middle Kingdom

A lesson from the business strategists: an organization’s strategy is a reflection of its culture, not grand plans made by its leaders. An example from Ancient China shows how this truth applies to crafting strategies of war and peace.I firmly believe that theorists of war and diplomacy have much to gain from studying the business […]

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Ominous Parallels: What Antebellum America Can Teach Us About Our Modern Political Regime

26 February, 2013Domestic Politics, History, Monied Interests, Oligarchy

Many people point to the hyper-partisanship of national Democratic and Republican parties as the greatest challenge facing 21st century America. When seen through the lens of another vapidly partisan political system – that of Jacksonian America – we see that the real danger is not noisy partisanship, but the iniquity it hides: for them it was slavery; for us, plutarchy. Living amidst the raucous partisanship of contemporary times it […]

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Re-Opening the Shop

24 February, 2013Site Announcements, Things I Do Other Than Blogging

Note: I am keeping this post at the top for the first week or so of the Stage’s reboot. New posts are below.Two years ago I left the life that I had known to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was the best decision I have ever […]

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Closing Down the Shop

02 January, 2011Site Announcements

NOTE TO THE PEOPLE WHO FIND THEMSELVES ON THIS PAGE: As of Feb 2013 The Scholar’s Stage has been reborn. A round up of all posts published in its first month can be found here. Pressing the “Home” link on the sidebar will show you the most recent posts. This will be my last post for […]

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Collapse of America’s National Security, or Collapse of the American Family?

01 January, 2011Community, Demographics, Military Affairs

Earlier this week a story dropped into my inbox that was ideally suited for meeting the Stage’s stated mission to investigate “intersection of governance, ecology, demographics, culture, history, and security”: APNewsBreak: Nearly 1 in 4 Fails Military Exam Christine Armario and Dorie Turner. Associated Press. 21 December 2010. Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join […]

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The Most Popular Posts of 2010

31 December, 2010Site Announcements

According to Google Analytics, this year the ten most popular posts on the Stage were: 1. Naxalism: A Short Introduction to India’s Scariest Security Threat 2. Notes on the Dynamics of Human Civilization: The Growth Revolution, Part I 3. America’s Greatest Challenge – and Danger 4. Cases in Plutarchy? The U.S. Senate by Graduating Institution 5. Did […]

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Playing Around With Google Ngram

17 December, 2010Culture, History, Image of the Day, Media

Google Labs has released a cool new tool: Google Ngram Viewer. CNET News explains how it works: Google’s Ngram Viewer: A time machine for wordplayLancey Whitney. CNET News. 17 December 2010. Courtesy of the folks at Google Labs, Ngram Viewer can work its analysis as a result of Google’s sometimes contentious digitization of vast quantities […]

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Notes From All Over (13/12/2010) and Assorted Miscellany

13 December, 2010Europa Regina, Media, Mexico, Notes From All Over, Wealth

I normally devote Notes From All Over posts to off-site material worth reading. This post shall be slightly different. As my computer access is is at the moment limited I shall use this post to relate a few short thoughts on the issues of the day that would have otherwise have been published in separate posts, and […]

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Out For a Bit

07 December, 2010Site Announcements

A rather nasty virus has taken my primary computer out of action. Blogging will be sparse until it is back up and running.

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