From Istanbul to Christchurch

From Istanbul to Christchurch

American roads are wide, and this seems to only preconceived notion I had that was correct about the outside world.

I’ve always wanted to travel, and perhaps I can be forgiven, based upon my age and means growing up, for not following through before now. Caribbean trips and Montreal Model UN (yes, I was very cool in college) in the past few years taught me the wrong lessons about what I would find in Ireland and Turkey’s capital cities.  I expected a smaller America in Dublin, and instead I found that the most American of shops and people stood out in awkward contrast against the domestic culture. I’m not even sure what I expected to find in Istanbul, a place where you could probably find everything.

Istanbul from a ferry on the Bosphorous

Both cities are incredibly modern and yet invested in preserving their history. The people that live in Istanbul sit on street corners texting on iPhones and in the newest designer jeans while smoking hookah. While the gradient of their streets are San Franciscan, and the Palm Trees and red clay roofs recall something slightly more SoCal to mind, everything else about the place screams New York City. As it’s larger than NYC, that definitely doesn’t do the frenetic streets justice.

Downtown Istanbul, near the Hagia Sophia

Dublin’s main shopping streets could be found in any affluent European city, maybe in the West Village (is it obvious what US city I’m most comfortable with?) There’s a Disney store across from the “authentic Irish pubs,” and then, down a side street, there’s an authentic Irish pub with carvery, stew, and an amazing, affordable beer list. Next door, the bookstore holds first edition copies of Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake and Yeat’s collections of poetry. Forget ever buying one –- books like these cost upwards of €500, so I just enjoyed awkwardly thumbing through the pages and trying not to drop anything.

Dublin Downtown

Both cities have cobbled roads, but it evokes the same nostalgia that you get in restored old Boston, or, again, in Greenwich Village. This might be my naïve shortsightedness of course, since in Istanbul, road construction on a main artery was driving the entire city crazy, but these cities have embraced post-modernism with an aplomb that is sometimes missing in the states, and was certainly the last thing I expected to see in either.

While Dublin, because of size and language, soon began to feel comfortable, 22 hours in Istanbul didn’t take the edge off its foreignness, even as certain streets, residents and cars all reminded me of home. I don’t expect it ever could, with its size, and with the language barrier that would be hard to overcome. Of course, with my helplessness in Istanbul came a silver lining – I could stop trying to blend in or “pass” and just embrace being a tourist, fascinated by everything new.

by Caitlin Cummings 

We the Battenites

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Today was quite the eventful day. We began with multiple espressos at the hotel cafeteria. Nothing to get you going like a double cappuccino. Our first trip was to interview Professor Ferrell at University College of Dublin. Professor Ferrell explained his most recent initiative – We The Citizens –, which brings together 67 ordinary citizens with 33 parliamentarians to debate 8 preselected constitutional amendments. Topics to be discussed are the length of the president’s term of office, same-sex marriages, and gender-inclusive constitutional language. Quite a remarkable event let alone a proposal. Although the US has such a rigid constitutional amendment process, Professor Ferrell was pessimistic when asked if the US might import such an amendment system.

Next, we explored two museums – one archeology and one literary museum. The archeology museum housed similar artifacts to those found in many other national museums. However, this museum had several human remains that are thousands of years old. The nerd in me was going crazy; thinking about how much could be learned from these ancient exhibits.

After visiting the Fixx (Dublin’s finest coffee shop), we went to Parliament to see how the Irish government worked. Similar to the British system, we saw a segment called “The Leaders’ Questions”, which allowed the leader of each party to ask questions and respond and rebut answers from the executive and other party leaders. Fascinating, we then moved into a small group discussion with the deputy of the Sinn Fein party. I got the change to ask him a question about foreign policy – specifically, how the US foreign policy was received by Ireland and what his ideal US foreign policy would be toward Ireland. He mentioned that, although President Clinton and Ambassador George Mitchell had been influential during the 1990s, Ireland’s focus on developing peace had not aligned with later US military interventions. With regards to the future, he expressed a more mixed response, noting that, from a foreign policy perspective, President Obama’s first term had been somewhat disappointing but that the selection of Secretaries John Kerry and Chuck Hagel for State and Defense, respectively, demonstrated both the ambition and optimism for more peace in the global community. As future policymakers, he charged us to follow this model and focus on stability and peace. To meet such a mover and shaker in the Irish government was exhilarating, especially since it was coupled with objective responses and concrete takeaways. This conversation, along with the observations of Parliament, helped me see how more knowledge of other cultures and governmental procedures will aid my policy career in America.

Finally, we are on our way to Inch Island. As much fun as Dublin has been, visiting the countryside promises to be both interesting and relaxing. Ireland is known for high-quality livestock and Inch Island is, from what I hear, no exception. The sheep there look healthy and warm. Interesting fact that we learned on the bus ride here – sheep are sheered from the back to the front.

By: Benjamin Lynch

Day 1 - The land of peace and shamrocks

Monday, March 11, 2013

After a day of touring Dublin, as well as exploring Istanbul (as part of a 20+ hour layover), we embarked on the first conflict resolution-related seminar at the UN training center. [Deleted] led the seminar, entitled “The UN and Irish Defense Forces and Peace Support Operations.” He discussed many topics, including the Irish Defense forces, Ireland’s approach to foreign policy, Irish peacekeepers, and lessons that have been learned throughout the years.

No mission without approval

In Ireland, the government cannot deploy troops without a three-part approval process, which requires a mandate from the UN, endorsement from the cabinet, and approval from Parliament. [Deleted] explained that this system ensured that military action aligned with 1) the mission of international peacekeeping and 2) the desires of the Irish citizens. Without this unique policy, [deleted] warned that civilian policymakers could distort the mission of the military and/or erode the processes of accountability. Compared to United States’ policy, Ireland’s three-part approval process differs by requiring the UN approval.[1] There is one caveat that provides Ireland’s leaders with, albeit limited, flexibility: an exemption of required approval for military actions that require 12 or fewer soldiers. This, however, remains significantly different from US policy, where the president is limited by time constrains rather than magnitude of military intervention.  

More is less

The culture in Dublin has been really interesting, focusing on maximizing impact while acknowledging limited resources. This was a focal point of [deleted]’s discussion at the UN training center. [Deleted] described how Irish troops have such a large voice at the UN, while have a small military when compared to other similar developed nations. Part of this can be attributed to the three-part system that Ireland uses to approve military action. Other elements are also at play. The peacekeeping focus keeps Irish forces out of controversial military operations. The fact that Ireland was not a colonial power improves the international perception of Irish military interventions, which as previously stated mostly peacekeeping missions. The peace-centric focus of the Irish military has provided increased credibility when Ireland has previously sat on the UN Security Council. Ireland, a country with roughly 9,000 military service personnel, has experienced greater returns from their attitude toward military intervention.

By: Benjamin Lynch

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[1] During this conversation, [deleted] alluded to the United States’ intervention in Iraq as not having followed a UN resolution. He did, however, condition this statement on the presence of other UN resolutions that, if accepted, could have provided justification for US intervention. 

Snow blizzard in Ireland!

We stopped to take pictures on the way to the United Nations School of Conflict Resolution at the Irish Amy Camp. It was balmy.

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The panopticon

Sunday morning, March 10

Kilmainham Gaol

After teaching Foucault for many years, I began to think of the idea of the panopticon as a metaphor for the problem of self-sanction and the perception of continuous surveillance, where human behavior suffers from the intensity of normalization. Kilmainham Gaol was one of the jail designs most directly influenced by Bentham's idea of the panopticon: a few guards could see into every cell in the prison (first picture). The glassed-in ceiling provided a view to the heavens.

Dublin Got Dome

Professor Pentz and I began our jet-lagged journey on Sunday wandering the older part of Dublin with castles, churches, and the old city hall.  We walked into the first building on our list that we found, looked up, and saw this wonder.