The Maldives
This week, I was asked to research the Maldives and produce a mission brief for my supervisor's upcoming trip. For this brief, I researched the major local news events, the constitutional issues that are currently in dispute, and the biographies of the major political figures that my supervisor will be meeting with. I greatly enjoyed this in-depth examination into a country that is currently dealing with the aftermath of crisis and political turmoil. Examining a country through the lens of each individual’s story and biography provides a unique lens to see the conflict through.
Work has also continued on my research into Anglophone African Countries. I have now completed the basic research, and have read, analyzed, and classified in excess of 42 constitutions. From these constitutions, I have identified 7 constitutions that have the 5 marker traits of the hybrid system that we are searching for. This indicates that this system of constitution making may be more than just a deviation from pure presidential or parliamentary systems – it may be a system in its’ own right. This led to the introduction of a new term: The Presidementary System. Next week I will reach the history surrounding the 7 Presidementary Systems that I have identified to determine why each country chose to structure their government in this way.
This week I also had the opportunity to attend a round table discussion on both the role of women in constitution making and the role of religion in the secular state hosted by the Ambassador of Tunisia. Both discussions produced fruitful discussion as the roundtable was attended by a diverse set of backgrounds from Tunisian Judges to Dutch Ambassadors.
For my travel this weekend, I went back to Belgium. This time I was in search of small towns and medieval architecture – both of which I found fruitfully. My first stop was the Gravensteen in the town of Ghent. This castle was built in 1180, and was home to Philip of Alsace. I had a wonderful tour of this magnificent structure narrated by a local Belgian comedian. After the castle I toured the surrounding town. Ghent is very pleasant town to visit. It has all of the energy, architecture, and style of a big city without the excessive amounts of tourism that I have seen in other places.
After Ghent I made my way over to Bruges to see the Bruges Belfry. The medieval atmosphere is still very much alive in Bruges. Castle towers, moats, and rivers run throughout the town. I had a very pleasant afternoon wandering the streets and admiring the architecture. After some time wandering around I stopped in Burg Square and had a true Belgium Waffle (which was delicious) while a street performer played the violin and the afternoon sun lit up the gold inlay on the buildings. It was a truly wonderful way to spend an afternoon.