Bruce Webster argues that there is not a shortage of IT engineers, there is, however, a shortage of talented ones. His graph of students studying IT related fields pretty much follows supply and demand as the tech booms of the 80s and 90s drew heavily upon anyone they could to fuel their growth, and then during their contraction students decided IT wasn't that good a career bet and enrollment dropped off.
Nothing mind bending in that.
The competency thing is bogus in my opinion, it is arguing for some Mozart inherent genius type aspect to IT as a career path. That is why people think IT and software people are assholes. (more)
Britain, France and Germany dealt with their booming population in the 19thC largely by industrialisation. Britain supplemented this with emigration and France with a revolution that changed agrarian patterns into a martial one. South and West of Germany William H. McNeill identifies the inability of industrialisation to "keep pace with population growth." McNeill argues that this political fault line or area of 'acute political distress' manifested itself in the Hapsburg Empire and the Balkans. It was the assassination of a Hapsburg Prince by a Slavic political revolutionary that started the mechanics of what would be World War I. (more)
Globalisation has meant an increasing demand for technical professions due to knowledge based economies. Juan Enriquez argues that these workers have little incentive to remain in backward countries and instead compete on the global labor market for remuneration and opportunities. Nation-states have changed their citizenship laws to accommodate them. These labor flows concentrate wealth, but also limits the actions of the nation-state as these labor skills are very mobile. (more)
Australia has always had a toe in globalisation simply because of the supposed geopolitical isolation, so Australians would look to foreign shores with awe and a glint of adventure. With the global economy integrating, the back-packing right of passage has become one of seeking economic opportunity.
The Lowy Institute's report on the Australia Diaspora in 2004 noted that it has become increasing white collar and even gold collar. While the diaspora may get public attention from time to time, gone unnoticed has been the increasingly globally integrated nature of the Australian workforce. (more)
The 1990s has seen an acceleration of globalisation as the prior Cold War nations opened their economies and the democratic dividend started to be felt in Europe and parts of Asia. The increasing capital, labor and communication flows of globalisation make many aspects of the old industrial order uncertain - one of these being the authority of the nation-state.
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Via worldchanging
; the
mapping globalisation project
has some interesting data on the inter-connectedness of globalisation. I found the data on the number of embassies in-country interesting.
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Juan Enriquez
; "There is ever more pressure on central governments to justify their existence."
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Wisdom condensed into short sentence-length (siggable) bites.
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