Bergen Vermette
Bergen Vermette has lived internationally for most of the last 10 years. He has worked with community development projects on 3 continents, and currently leads programs for Canadian youth on international issues and global citizenship. At present he's completing a much dragged-out undergraduate degree in International Studies.
Bergen's major areas of writing interest for Beams and Struts are global issues, (evolutionary) spirituality, and popular culture. He's a meditator, a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu competitor, and enjoys traveling by motorbike.
Dawkins the Messiah?
Atheist and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, may be helping usher in the next age of spiritual and religious mysticism. Now that's ironic.
Excellence
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Sweatshop Simpsons
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Improving International Development: An Update for the 21st Century
International development is a messy affair. Nobody quite knows what works. Various schools of thought, each trying to help in their own way, compete for the ‘right model’ of development. Economists say that poverty is caused by poor capital accumulation or restricted markets. Social scientists argue that it’s caused by a system of oppression. Other schools, each with their own bogeymen, focus on everything from overpopulation to cultures of laziness and corruption. But which is right?