| Our Mission |
| The mission of the Global Freedom Institute is to focus on promoting freedom throughout the world though inquiry. In other words, we believe that the key to freedom is the ability to question leaders, policies, and solutions to issues of local, national, regional and global importance. We believe that there are many ways to approach this and some institutes already deal with many of these ways. Our approach is dynamic in that there is nothing off limits. As we develop our institute, we will focus on articles that are essentially evaluative pieces of situations and understanding; policy analysis of specific policy areas; rhetorical analysis of the claims made by many and their implications; philosophical analysis of the foundational philosophical claims for everything from approaches to government, economics, and freedom; and economic impact analysis of economies and policies. In today's world, it is truly global. People can travel from country to country, across the globe faster than they have ever been able to. Computers allow for communication between countries, people, and cultures unlike anything in the past. Business interests are no longer national, and the policies and practices of one country can dramatically impact other countries. Economic capital can cross the globe in nanoseconds. Everything from national and local decisions dealing with labor, resources, health, and information can impact the rest of the world unlike any previous time in history. With all of that, still 2 billion people, nearly 1/3 of the world's population, do not have power; millions or even billions don't have adequate access to food, education, adequate medical care and education. America and Europe share arguably the most freedom on the planet, yet the world is growing more free with changes away from totalitarian regimes. Multinational corporations bring a mixed bag of new technologies and exploitation to the "Third World", and major governmental players have a dramatic impact on controlling smaller countries and their policies. Our goal is to promote global inquiry into not only the current policies of what is, but also delve into the future of what can be. While many educational systems and analysts focus on questions of who, what, where, when, and how; our goal is to focus on the question of why. While one can see trends of what countries or people do what, in what patterns of time and location, the analysis is shallow without answering the question why. By trying to answer the question of why in many forms of analysis, it is hoped that not only can we better understand why current policies are implemented with the results that come from them, but also understand the future of policies. It is also hoped that by focusing on the question of why that we can better shape policies in the future. If we understand the question of why, we can also better understand the question of what to do and explain why to do it. For decades, the West has thrown money at foreign aid with little to no positive results. It has assumed that foreign aid is a good thing, yet it has not questioned the impact of that aid and its implications. This is not to presuppose a solution of cutting off aid, but rather one that questions does this policy work? Why does it or doesn't it work? And what can be done to maximize the benefits of a policy and why is it a better policy? While other questions can be given quick, easy answers to them; the question why is one that is unanswerable in that it always leads to an answer that the question can be repeated. Therefore, it provides the key to depth of analysis and understanding. It is, at times, tedious and time consuming, but the results bring forth a richer understanding. Our goal is to gain insight from scholars and people from all over the world. Though our original writers are American, and some of our focus is uniquely western to start; it is hoped to expand in such a way as to allow for other perspectives that are both supportive and critical; that allow for depth of discussion, depth of ideas, depth of perspectives, and an understanding that is, in fact, global. To view the world only from an American or Western perspective is incredibly limiting and arrogant to assume it is the only perspective. We hope, in our humble search for understanding, to eventually bring that breadth and depth to our analysis. This is the beginning of our Online Journal. We will take submissions. And we will evaluate them based on justification of work done, rather than actual content agreement. However, the primary goal is that of inquiry. Inquiry into the world around us with the goal of promoting freedom for all. We encourage your letters and submissions. We hope you find our work worthy of your time and support. GFI |
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