Papers by Brandon Gobourne
There has been much discussion linking United States foreign policy and colonialism of other nati... more There has been much discussion linking United States foreign policy and colonialism of other nations. It has been a common theme, and is usually the case, that the United States enters these nations to implement a democratic society. In Latham's book, The Right Kind of Revolution, he analyzes the criticism that modernization theory has faced. Latham suggests that liberalism and neoliberalism, as ideologies supporting modernization, cannot be achieved pragmatically and face heavy criticisms of imperialism and global domination. In Latham's claim, modernization theory has collapsed due to its impracticality. 1 My critique of modernization theory is from an ideological and theoretical position. Because modernization theory tends to imply the development of democracy in foreign nations, I will analyze the sociological characteristics of democratic societies. The data which I will use as the basis of my argument are from Seymour M. Lipset's influential work "Some Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy". Lipset suggests that the individual or group belief in the legitimacy and effectiveness of the political system directly affect the stability of a democratic society. 2 Lipset defines legitimacy as the capacity of a political system to engender and maintain the belief that existing political institutions are the most appropriate or proper
Drafts by Brandon Gobourne
As a black stockbroker once put it, contrasting East Elmhurst to black areas of southern Queens, ... more As a black stockbroker once put it, contrasting East Elmhurst to black areas of southern Queens, "Southeast Queens is a black community. It has a black consciousness. We in East Elmhurst are people who live with blacks but in a white community. We think outside our community." (Gregory, 1999) 'By the time I went to secondary school I was definitely seeing myself as Black; there was a political context to how I was looking at myself. That was informed by international things: afros, and style and fashion, my sisters' contact with the American air base and things like that. It brought politics on a wider scale than just immediately in Liverpool 8.' (Brown, 2005) Diasporically speaking, the meaning of "Black" is typically immersed in Black American racial constructs of blackness. Members of the Black diaspora look towards Black Americans as the beacon of blackness, often referring to historical moments (Black Power movement, Civil Rights movement, slavery, etc.) and cultural attributes (music, art, fashion) found in Black America. However, blackness within America is highly contested. Who is really black? What does it mean to be Black in America? These questions have been pondered for generations by an innumerable amount of scholars. Despite the lack of agreement over what blackness amounts to within the United States, some version of "the Black American experience" is interpreted by those external to the United States located within the Black diaspora. Considering the highly complex, dynamic, contentious, and wide-array of characteristics that make-up the all-encompassing Black American experience, how do members of the Black diaspora form their understanding of American blackness and, more importantly, why is it that certain attributes of Black American life are incorporated into diasporic meanings of blackness while other components of Black American life are left out? How is this universalized notion of "Black American" different or the same from the actual experiences of Black people living in America? The issue that I am attempting to spell out is that the diasporic version of "Black American" that is described in different localities around the world only captures certain aspects of Black American life, meanwhile Black identities vary across class-lines, gender, and other categories of
Governmental utilitarianism produces a conditional concept of rights. An individual can claim to ... more Governmental utilitarianism produces a conditional concept of rights. An individual can claim to have a right to act and behave in certain ways without governmental intervention only if the actions or behaviors exhibited by the individual contribute positively to the social utility of the body politic. To contribute positively to social utility is the complex interplay of general and private interest in the individual acting or behaving in certain ways. Prior to the murder of George Floyd and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests, the topic of Black people not being afforded the same rights as white counterparts was not a public national discussion. But the spectacle of the police officer pressing his knee upon the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, as he lays chest down with his handcuffed behind his back, has shifted the global discourse on the Black experience in America.
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Papers by Brandon Gobourne
Drafts by Brandon Gobourne