How People Harness Their Collective Wisdom and Power to Construct the Future in Co-Laboratories of Democracy textbook is very interesting in the way it present the Structured Design Process. The book contains many case studies that are very interesting in exposing various steps on how to examine and complete projects in a very simple way.
Case study in chapter 17, “International Boundary-Spanning Dialogues” “Project-Successful Cypriot Women” was very interesting to me. I am familiar with the ongoing problem in Cyprus. The objective of the case study is to put together from different parties (Marios Michaelides and Antigone Petropoulos) woman from both countries (Greece & Turkey) in a bi-communal workshops in a neutral zone separating Greece & Turkey. The goal is to bring a vision of peace, which might not solve the issues but might a least open their mind and hopefully bring peace in the future.
Political, economical and cultural forces affected the outcome of this activity. Greece was colonized by Turkey (Ottoman Empire) for more than 400 years. Of course, this was not the first nor the last time that Greeks and Turks came head to head in armed conflict. From the 14th century until the most recent Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus in 1974, the two countries have battled over and over again. Now that open armed conflicts have subsided, Greeks and Turks have found a new area of conflict to focus on; being the country of primary investment importance in Southeastern Europe.
From an economical point of vu, of course, one might consider this an easy call since we read of Greece’s financial woes every other day. Greece’s problems are deep-rooted and these issues have directly spelled out as gains for Turkey. This trend will likely continue, despite Athens’ promises to shore up their financial situation since these problems are much more fundamental than what can be solved by sound governmental financial policies.
Greece and Turkey both rely heavily on agricultural exports, with olives, cotton, and tobacco being main crops. Both countries also harvest dairy goods, fruit, and fish. Many of these good are exported throughout Europe and the world. Both counties are also heavily involved in the textiles and mining industries as well, also major exports.
From a cultural stand point, both nations have a lot of things in common. Traditional clothes, traditional dances and music, food culture, language even the physical appearances of the people are so much alike that it is hard to distinguish one from the other. Unfortunately, the citizens of these two countries are prejudiced against each other. It is always imposed on people that “the other” is “the enemy”.
Applying the SDP the woman created 106 qualities of success and selected 24 as the main questions. From these questions and Influence tree for successful women qualities (Successful Cypriot Women) was created (shown in Figure 17.1 on page 117 of Christakis book). From the tree a video was created, and built a relationship between Greece & Turkey in Cyprus. I strongly believe that what was accomplished is extraordinary for the circumstances and the time available, I think many other meeting can be built from this one and hopefully will bring peace between these countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment