The End of History! .... uh, No.

I love maps - here's a pair showing the retreat of Freedom, defined here as liberal democracy (not to be confused with Democratic liberalism). Very interesting, but perhaps a bit overheated in its commentary. For one thing look at South America. Argentina, Brazil and Chile, three of the largest Latin countries, are now "Free," as is Mexico for some years now.

For another, anyone who thought Russia was going to be a western style liberal democracy probably thought gun control and universal health care was just around the corner for the USA. The two largest Muslim countries are also 'free.'

A mixed bag, but look carefully at India and South Africa. And Mongolia, wedged tightly between the Russian and Chinese behemoths. And there is the odd fact that nearly all of the Anglosphere is free. Blame it on Magna Carta and the Glorious Revolution.

well, depending on how one feels about Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda.

now if we could just get the Mongols to speak English.

thanks to Andrew Sullivan for finding this. He reads the blogs so I don't have to.

The Anglosphere marches on

This afternoon I had a brief conversation with one of my new colleagues - she told me that her native languages were Hindi, Marathi, and English. Meanwhile I have been listening to a book on my new MP3 player* called Think India, which touts the importance to America that India speaks, in large part, English. This last point may be exaggerated but it does bring up the importance of the Anglosphere** - that part of the world, especially the Internet world, that uses English as its main means of communication and shares other characteristics.

Now England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has published an article in the Wall Street Journal calling for an enlargement of the Anglosphere.

In the last half-century the English language has become not only the language of Shakespeare and Twain, of J.K. Rowling and Cormac McCarthy, but of science, commerce, diplomacy, the Internet and travel.

So, finally, I propose that together Britain and America strive to make the international language that happens to be our own far more freely available across the world. I am today asking the British Council to develop a new initiative with private-sector and NGO partners in America, to offer anyone in any part of the world help to learn English.

Very interesting.

* And you thought I was a technophobe

** best book to read: The Anglosphere Challenge: Why the English-Speaking Nations will Lead the Way in the 21rst Century by James Bennett.

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The wonders of the Anglosphere

Nice concept the Anglosphere, but does it mean anything?

Possibly. Here is a video of Margaret Thatcher's grandson, a football star in Texas according to Andrew Sullivan.