Cross-Cultural Communication and Embedded Liberalism

I started out this week feeling very lost on the topic of embedded liberalism, and because of this, I was not able to say anything in class on Tuesday (as I was busily trying to look up more information online about embedded liberalism). After reading quite a bit online, I began to understand a few facts, but it was not until today's class, Friday, that I really understood the basics of embedded liberalism.
Although I am not a big fan of simulations, I thought that today's simulation designed by group two was very accurate and helpful in demonstrating some of the key parts of both the embedded and disembedded systems. My group began with probably the smallest amount of resources, yet because of larger institutions like the IMF, we were able to create agreements that would ensure us wealth, or at least an unchanging set of rules. When there are trade laws that require countries to retain a certain amount of resources, it also creates an even playing ground for every nation to know the value of the resources. (Of course, if the value changes, such as a new use for oil is discovered, as we discussed, the known value will also change.) Having an embedded market allows for that to be part of the social system, dealing with trade between countries and an almost constant power that controls the system, unlike disembedded liberalism.
We were able to see with disembedded liberalism how the value of items was very inconspicuous, which to me seems like it could lead to so-called corruption in the trade environment. There will be some countries that can never afford what the wealthier have and trade becomes dependent on who can find the best deal. Although in the classroom, much of the hoarding of resources was because of a like or dislike of a certain candy, in the disembedded system, the goal would be to have as many resources of different kinds, but since there are no rules, some countries can not even keep resources.
I am beginning to find this topic interesting, especially because I do not know much about trade between countries, yet would like to understand embedded liberalism in more detail. I like the rules that it outlines and see how it could work and function in the world.

In the second part of my reflection, I would like to talk about the UC Common Event that we had this past Wednesday. I ended up being in Cross-Cultural Communications, which for me, is an incredibly interesting subject, and something that I have considered studying. A few years ago, I began playing chamber music in a 'Playing for Peace' program that brought together students from around the world, especially those from conflict areas such as Israel/West Bank, Cyprus, Ireland, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan. Through this experience, I began to learn the importance of communicating in different cultures and about how there are so many differences between cultures that are unimaginable to us. I became obsessed with other cultures, learning about them, speaking with people from other countries, because I felt that I was learning more than I ever had, even just learning one word in Arabic. I have now lived in South America and in Israel, and I see even more the presence of problems creating by miscommunication. Not only can we not speak the same language, but we are also not willing to open up and view another culture for its own values, that may be completely different from ours. In our discussion on Wednesday, we talked about the idea that it is only possible to truly understand another culture by living in it, experiencing every day life, speaking the language, cooking, attending cultural events, and viewing in real life the parts of life that are essential to that particular culture.
This is just to reflect on the fact that I really enjoyed the common event. It really made me think and consider the reasons that I began to interest myself in other countries, in studying and living abroad, and in coming to AU. I hope to continue in the path of cross-cultural communication because, for me, individual cultures are the essence of the world, yet there needs to be some middle-ground so that miscommunication does not cause unnecessary wars.