"Not Waving, Not Drowning: Just Struggling to Learn Self-Government

Learning self-goverment is a generations long process with no single "right path" or fixed "end of history." But for all that there is an underlying logic and dynamic that keeps recurring in various formats.  Althoughdisruptive episodes of particpiation from below can only be sustained in short bursts, invariably fail to deliver on the goals that underlined the protests and provoke internal and international backlashes, they nonetheless create lasting historical divides and in some cases provide safe havens for those crushed elsewhere.