International relatins - violence, resistance and identity - Essay Example

The list of these countries underscores the fact that not only was Occupy Movement an international occurrence, but a movement that took place in democracies and capitalist states, also. The context in which Occupy Movement took place has both anteceding and triggering factors. The anteceding factors to Occupy Movement had been the longstanding culture of unfair power relations in the society and economic structures, the (mis)management of large corporations, multinationals and the entire international system to the point of inordinately benefiting only a minority, undermining democracy and precipitating an absence of financial and social security.

Unknown to the casual observer, the triggering factor to Occupy Movement must have been the 2010 Arab Spring and the 2011-2012 Spanish Protests. No sooner had the two protests began in earnest than social online networks started going viral with calls to the effect that America and Britain needed their own Tahrir Squares. It is not in doubt that advancements in IT and liberalisation of information played instrumental roles in sparking Occupy Movement. The stated goals and aims of the Occupy Movement have slight discrepancies since there are country-specific demands that were put across.

Nevertheless, it is clear that certain demands cut across all Occupy Movement protests throughout the globe. The goals included the addressing of the corrupting effects that money had on politics, the streamlining of regulations in the banking industry, the implementation of banking reforms, attainment of equality in income distribution, the proscription of high-frequency trading, the abatement of the influences that corporations have on politics, creation of better and more jobs, and the opening and successful completion of investigations and prosecution of those who propagate corruption in politics. (b) The Issue(s) at Stake There are several issues that emanated from the rise of Occupy Movement.

One of the issues was the feasibility of capitalism and the neoliberal approaches to economics which capitalist persuasions brought about. The crux of the matter herein is that all the countries in which Occupy Movement took place are capitalist and thus adopted socioeconomic and political neo-liberalism. While the UK, America and the West branded capitalism as the pathway to success, 2 decades after the Fall of Communism (or communist USSR), Occupy Movement emerges to decry the ravages that are apparently associated with capitalism.

The radical nature of the problem at hand is that, in the event that capitalism and neo-liberalism are found to be inchoate, the most tenable alternative system of production must be considered. Another matter that is at stake in this discussion is the extent to which the UK, America and the rest of the Occupy Movement countries can be said to be democratic. From December 2010, Occupy Movement countries had been cheering on the Arab Spring as a manifestation of a democratic reawakening. The same countries had piled pressure on the regimes in the Arab world to concede to the demands of the hoi polloi.

Thus, the manner in which Occupy Movement regimes responded to the protests and the success of the movements may serve as the litmus tests for