In
the summer of 1968, in the middle of the American involvement in the Vietnam
wars, Mary Soderstrom and her husband loaded
up their VW Beetle and immigrated to Canada so he could accept a job in
Montreal. The contrast between their new
home and their old led to a long-running reflection on what makes the countries
different, and by extension, what makes States and states who have so much in common
that they seem like unidentical twins, continue as separate entities.
In Frenemies Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States, Soderstrom uses decades
of study, travel and observation to investigate this conundrum, beginning with
the reasons why there were two Vietnams way back then. The other examples she found are many and
varied:
* New Hampshire--home of "Live
free or die" populism--and Vermont--home of Bernie Sanders and his
peculiarly American brand of socialism;
*Two Canadian provinces, red neck
Alberta and Saskatchewan, the cradle of Canada's universal health care system;
*Tunisia and Algeria;
* Burundi and Rwanda.
*Haiti and the Dominican Republic
*The ancient island realms of
Scotland and Ireland
*The Indian states of Kerala and
Tamil Nadu
* Spanish-speaking and
Portuguese-speaking South America
The book ends with consideration of
the United States of America and Canada as well as speculation about what
brings change to societies. These include
geographic variations, no matter how minimal; colonial history that sometimes
depends on the toss of dice half a world away; exposure to the wider world; the
traditional place awarded women; the shelter that a language can give; how the
people are educated; and migration, both voluntary and involuntary. All of these have implications for the way
polities develop. They also carry lessons
for those who'd like to change the future.
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