Natural disasters interestingly have created huge political legacies (in some cases, destroyed them); an easy read on why some politicians perhaps desperately wait for a natural disaster to come back to power
If Moses had the plagues to help him reserve his following, if Noah played to the end of the world tune to deliver his Ark to fame, then modern day politicians have had various brilliantly timed natural disasters to catapult up their political fortunes; and in some cases, even destroy them due to their lack of tactical intent. The more intelligent ones have used disasters to not only cleanse their corrupt and tainted pasts but to decimate opposition too. Presenting a cross-continent easy read correlation review.
On December 23, 1972 an earthquake in central Managua, in Nicaragua, helped reveal the social rifts of the Somoza family dictatorship, who reportedly embezzled a huge pie of the foreign aid. This quake became the key excuse for people (underpinned by Sandinista revolution) to come together to topple down the Somoza dictatorship. Likewise in 1976, in China, Mao’s successor Hua Guofeng converted the earthquake to his benefit. He popularised the Tangshan earthquake as a symbolic event and used it as an image-building exercise to eventually destroy the opposition’s hold in the region. During the same period, in Guatemala, the military dictatorship overlooked the rehabilitation of rural areas (and only concentrated on the capital city) after a major quake, and this led to one of the biggest uprisings in the country’s history. Although in this case dictatorship was somehow able to crush the revolution using brute force, some years down the line, in 1985, the self help groups of Mexico ignited the independence movement post the infamous 1985 Mexico quake and succeeded in putting a full stop to the one party system of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
While tectonic shifts on the surface have done a lot to make or mar political fortunes, similar tremors below the sea level have been equally omnipresent on making or marring political fortunes. The tsunami, which occurred a few days before the eve of 2005, killed over 220,000 people in 11 countries across the Indian Ocean; but the way it fired up the destiny of Thailand’s embattled Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra is mind-boggling to say the least. For the uninitiated, the disaster happened a few months before the scheduled national parliamentary elections in Thailand. Thaksin – facing ignominious corruption charges – grabbed this opportunity. He did everything possible to make his voters believe that he was capable of handling the calamity. In the course of that endeavour, he denied the need for any international aid and executed a near-effective recovery plan. This bold effort of Thaksin decoded itself into greatly improved rating points.
Read more....
If Moses had the plagues to help him reserve his following, if Noah played to the end of the world tune to deliver his Ark to fame, then modern day politicians have had various brilliantly timed natural disasters to catapult up their political fortunes; and in some cases, even destroy them due to their lack of tactical intent. The more intelligent ones have used disasters to not only cleanse their corrupt and tainted pasts but to decimate opposition too. Presenting a cross-continent easy read correlation review.
On December 23, 1972 an earthquake in central Managua, in Nicaragua, helped reveal the social rifts of the Somoza family dictatorship, who reportedly embezzled a huge pie of the foreign aid. This quake became the key excuse for people (underpinned by Sandinista revolution) to come together to topple down the Somoza dictatorship. Likewise in 1976, in China, Mao’s successor Hua Guofeng converted the earthquake to his benefit. He popularised the Tangshan earthquake as a symbolic event and used it as an image-building exercise to eventually destroy the opposition’s hold in the region. During the same period, in Guatemala, the military dictatorship overlooked the rehabilitation of rural areas (and only concentrated on the capital city) after a major quake, and this led to one of the biggest uprisings in the country’s history. Although in this case dictatorship was somehow able to crush the revolution using brute force, some years down the line, in 1985, the self help groups of Mexico ignited the independence movement post the infamous 1985 Mexico quake and succeeded in putting a full stop to the one party system of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
While tectonic shifts on the surface have done a lot to make or mar political fortunes, similar tremors below the sea level have been equally omnipresent on making or marring political fortunes. The tsunami, which occurred a few days before the eve of 2005, killed over 220,000 people in 11 countries across the Indian Ocean; but the way it fired up the destiny of Thailand’s embattled Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra is mind-boggling to say the least. For the uninitiated, the disaster happened a few months before the scheduled national parliamentary elections in Thailand. Thaksin – facing ignominious corruption charges – grabbed this opportunity. He did everything possible to make his voters believe that he was capable of handling the calamity. In the course of that endeavour, he denied the need for any international aid and executed a near-effective recovery plan. This bold effort of Thaksin decoded itself into greatly improved rating points.
Read more....
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM B-School Detail
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM B-School Detail
