# Learning from Other Countries



## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Are there any good examples of governments offering significant or radical change on certain policies based on what has been successful in other countries? It strikes me that there are a number of things that we could learn from other, more successful countries - perhaps with regards to education systems or all sorts of other things - but despite our globalisation, governments tend to be quite insular in this respect. Why?


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

What I think we see more often is marginalized people who are trying to change their governments taking inspiration from people and movements in other countries - for example, Martin Luther King Jr. studying Gandhi's tactics of nonviolent resistance. And so, radical policy changes _do_ sometimes have foreign models, but the ones actively employing these models are usually relative outsiders rather than the national governments themselves. I think many national authorities are reluctant to admit that some other country has a better way of doing something - perhaps it seems unpatriotic to them.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

In economic policy, countries learn from each other. The British learned from the Dutch; the Americans and Germans learned from the British; the Japanese learned from the Americans and Germans; the Asian Tigers learned from the Japanese; and now China and other countries like India and Vietnam are learning from the Asian tigers. Each time the growth rate has been more spectacular because the process was better understood.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

science said:


> In economic policy, countries learn from each other. The British learned from the Dutch; the Americans and Germans learned from the British; the Japanese learned from the Americans and Germans; the Asian Tigers learned from the Japanese; and now China and other countries like India and Vietnam are learning from the Asian tigers. Each time the growth rate has been more spectacular because the process was better understood.


Dutch > British > American+German > Japanese > Asian Tigers > China+India+Vietnam.
( Dutch>all )
Interesting...


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

What I mainly learn from all countries I visit is how poorly we eat here in America as a whole...sure, the best chefs and restaurants in the world can be found here but from town to town and through the hills...folks all over Europe, Asia and South America tend to have far better eats. Then there's the culture and I come from a city where culture is little more than a seven letter word. Again, we have every race known to man here but some of the best soups are made of only few ingredients; throwing everything into the pot doesn't exactly make it great.

I like to learn as much as I can from anywhere and everywhere I travel but like the creature of habit that I am, when the folks with their flip flops and bikinis and dance club wear in their luggage on the plane hear "welcome to miami",...I'm just glad to be home.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

kv466 said:


> What I mainly learn from all countries I visit is how poorly we eat here in America as a whole...sure, the best chefs and restaurants in the world can be found here but from town to town and through the hills...folks all over Europe, Asia and South America tend to have far better eats. Then there's the culture and I come from a city where culture is little more than a seven letter word. Again, we have every race known to man here but some of the best soups are made of only few ingredients; throwing everything into the pot doesn't exactly make it great.


Hell knows! I'm from Britain, for Queenie's sake, and we're not exactly renowned for our food, but when I visited the U.S. and was offered potato and cake for breakfast, I was shocked!


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

kv466 said:


> What I mainly learn from all countries I visit is how poorly we eat here in America as a whole...


Hehe - the "mama" in mamascarlatti gets a bit worried about the lack of green stuff in the "last thing you ate" thread.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

You'll be happy to know I'm making vegetable soup :angel: Yep, it's apparently 'freezing' down here in South Florida at a whopping 48 degrees F.


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

If you are to expansive as a politcian...you will not get woted. Democracy has some drawbacks...


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> Dutch > British > American+German > Japanese > Asian Tigers > China+India+Vietnam.
> ( Dutch>all )
> Interesting...


Yes, the 16th and especially 17th century Dutch were _amazing_. They were the key to the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I think, in Australia's case, it's more a matter of trying to learn from the mistakes of other countries and not bringing it here.

That's the advantage of being a young country, I guess.

Eg. deregulation of financial markets was a disaster in New Zealand, our neighbour "across the ditch." So when our Federal Govt. came to deregulate in late 1980's, they did it in a better way, with a view to stability and protecting the economy. It has worked in a way, eg. the USA sub-prime mortgage spill did not affect us as badly as it could have, regulation of our banking sector is still watertight compared to many countries, incl. the USA methinks.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sid James said:


> I think, in Australia's case, it's more a matter of trying to learn from the mistakes of other countries and not bringing it here.
> 
> That's the advantage of being a young country, I guess.
> 
> Eg. deregulation of financial markets was a disaster in New Zealand, our neighbour "across the ditch." So when our Federal Govt. came to deregulate in late 1980's, they did it in a better way, with a view to stability and protecting the economy. It has worked in a way, eg. the USA sub-prime mortgage spill did not affect us as badly as it could have, regulation of our banking sector is still watertight compared to many countries, incl. the USA methinks.


I envy you with a passion. My wife and I have made no net profit on our investments for 3 years bc of that subprime crap. I'd like to kill the CEOs of the big banks. I'm hoping to retire modestly someday and travel, while they're funneling billions of dollars from taxpayers through the banks they run _on my flippin' behalf_ (because I own stock in them) into their own hands, buying yachts and homes in the Bahamas and art, and at the same time screwing over the world's economy via fraud so that my younger brothers can't find jobs (then blaming them for being lazy), my parents' home loses value, and my investments won't grow.

I hope a God exists so that those sons of ****** can burn in hell.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Polednice said:


> *Learning from other countries*





Sid James said:


> I think, in Australia's case, it's more a matter of trying to learn from the mistakes of other countries and not bringing it here.


I'll agree with _that_.

Greece, for instance. Presumably, I will not need to expound. Regrettably, there will be other examples. I just hope that the USA will NOT be one of them.

The spectre of default on an internationally relevant country's National Debt could make the events of late 2008 seem like a transitory inconvenience by comparison.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Another example of 'Dutch courage': last month it rained incessantly, dikes got soaked & weakened but the Dutch have a solution for it:









an inflatable rubber-dike. Of course this novelty will be sold for good money to all wet feet countries around the globe


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