For the past month and a half, most of my conversations with somebody I am meeting for the first time have gone something like:
-person: So where are you from?
-me: I'm half Mexican, half Canadian but I grew up in Mexico.
-person: Oh! So you skipped the middle!
-me: Yes, but I study in the US in Boston.
-person: (Insert joke about a wall, NAFTA or current politics here)
After we laugh it off, I then proceed to talk about the current situation in Mexico that has been impacted by the political developments with its northern neighbor. I tell them about the devaluation of the peso and the current inspection of cellphones and electronic devices from passengers, that has gotten people's visa's taken away because of content like jokes or social media posts. Although this sort of conversation can get a bit old, I think it is a great way to share with people from different countries the real situation in Mexico and engage in a conversation that may help shift the preconceived ideas many have. I think this is what is great about working within an international environment. Having the opportunity to exchange ideas with people that have seen many places and know a lot more has been very enriching and I think that having these kinds of exchanges is what is needed in the world today. On the other side, I have learned so much from the individuals I have been working for and with and it has really broadened my way of viewing the world and where I see my place in it.
This week the Senior Course at the NATO Defense College talked about the international world order, IGOs, NGOs, and civil society. Although I can be quite skeptical of how many of these organizations work, the lectures we attended this week gave me a different insight into the way these organizations work and the reasons it can often seem like they do nothing at all. This is not to say that I have changed my mind, but I have been able to analyze my critiques of certain institutions within a wider framework that does not just look at the outcomes or claims these institutions make, but takes into account the complexities of the world order. Consensus building, differing interests, built in redundancies are difficult challenges that these bodies deal with every day and they do so through different strategies like being as general as possible, engaging in as much dialogue as they can or resorting to other mechanisms by which these bodies will be more likely to achieve what they want.
What has really struck me about this weeks´ lectures is the feeling of uncertainty around the world. It seems we are all waiting to see what the US´ position is going to be in regards to pretty much everything and how the world order will transition based on it. I think that for our generation, we have grown in a generally stable environment. Although one could argue and I would agree that 9/11 is an event that had a huge impact in the way we see security and world threats, I was five years old! I don´t know if it is because I never lived it or because older people have, but I cannot conceive of a world where our understanding of how the system works is that different. We studied the Cold War as well as the two World Wars and although we understand how much the world has changed since then it is the first time I feel as though our generation will witness a significant change in the system. This may seem like an obvious statement but I guess I never thought that such a significant change would take place now. This might be the product of my studies and my current Co-op but I am curious to see how the world will develop and how we will talk about the current period to our future generations.
***Wow, I did´t know where I was going with this post when I started writing, but I guess this is what is on my mind. I am currently on my way to Florence for the weekend, so I can promise a more cheerful post full of pictures and fun things next time :)
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