“Beyond the War on Terror”

“America will take the side of brave men and women who advocate these values [rule of law; limits on the power of the state; respect for women; private property; free speech; equal justice; religious tolerance] around the world, including the Islamic world, because we have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment.  We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.” — Pres. George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, 2002.

 

The Notion of Empire Forever Banished

“…America may have forever banished the notion of empire because it has changed the whole grain of human history.  As a result of the values and principles that Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt embedded into the new international order after World War II, it has become both illegitimate and impossible to create empires today.  Illegitimate because current international law does not allow imperial domination….To put it simply, the people of the world have changed.  They have essentially accepted the American claim that each human being has equal rights and equal dignity.” — Kishore Mahbubani, Beyond the Age of Innocence, p.11

What Gives America the Right…

“We should all ask, What gives America the right to render judgments of right and wrong, or good versus rogue?  If America takes on the worst offenders in order to extend the Core’s rule sets, then why not take on all offenders?  Why not just admit we run an empire? 

What gives America the right is the fact that we are globalization’s godfather, its source code, it [sic] original model.  We restarted globalization after World War II and we have made it largely in our image.  After fighting in two world wars, this was our solution to great-power war, and it has worked amazingly well.  But we cannot abandon our ceation now that we have already picked all the low-hanging fruit and only the toughest cases, such as terrorism, remain.  This gift of gobal connectivity generating peace is one we must keep on giving, because to let the process stall is to risk its demise, to possibly lose all for which we have sacrificed so much in the past.” — Thomas Barnett, The Pentagon’s New Map, p.301.

On the Importance of American Legitimacy

“The moral standing of America in the eyes of the rest of the world is an important determinant of how both America and American power will be perceived by the rest of the world.  An America committed to certain values and standards in its behavior will naturally be perceived to be less threatening.  An America that is perceived to be playing rough and ready with the rules will naturally be less welcomed.  The ‘legitimacy’ of American power is important.  The more legitimate it is perceived to be, the more easily it will be accepted.” — Kishore Mahbubani, Beyond the Age of Innocence, p.134.

Not an Empire, II

“Perhaps the worst definitions of American ‘empire’ describe it in terms of compulsion, or the mechanistic notion that America seeks empire simply because it is strong and desires to become stronger.  The cynicism displayed in that diagnosis is almost as pathetic as the sterile academic reasoning that defines the most powerful player in the world system as its inevitable bully.  What such finger-pointing fails to understand is that this country has willingly walked away from more global power than any empire in human history has ever achieved.  Indeed, over time America has displayed a generosity toward its ‘empire’ that renders the ver word ludicrous.” — Thomas Barnett, The Pentagon’s New Map, p.359

Not an Empire

“This argument that America is already an empire is deeply flawed.  For an empire to exist, you need both rulers and the ruled.  The American political system is inherently incapable of running an empire.  No empire, not even the relatively benign British Empire, was established without a heavy degree of brutality at the point of colonizing.  Most people do not like to be ruled by others.  They have to be cowed into submission.  The recent painful American experience in Iraq only reinforces this point.  With all the military power in the world, America appears incapable of subjugating one medium-sized country in the Middle East because it is incapable of administering the kind of brutal suppression the British applied when they conquered Iraq in 1917.  All it takes is for one story of sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners to surface.  It becomes front-page news.  The American defense secretaryand American generals have to spend time defending the behavior of their soldiers and consequently further restrain them.  In the good old days of empire, the generals who found innovative ways of subduing the natives by depriving them of their dignity and pride would have been rewarded, not punished.  The term ‘benign empire’ is an oxymoron.  It will be immensely difficult for America to become a true empire.” — Kishore Mahbubani, Beyond the Age of Innocence, p.10.

Only When National Interest Is at Stake?

Some “have argued that America should use its force overseas only when our national interests are directly challenged or put at risk.  Of course, that argument is typically coded to mean that our ‘interests’ should be narrowly define, lest we find ourselves managing an empire not of our choosing.  But drawing a firm line between what America cares about enough to wage war and what the rest of the world cares about enough to wage war is hard, because wars between states are disappearing, leaving only conflicts within states or bad behavior by regimes as the main criterion for waging war.  These internal situations are simultaneously everyone’s problem and no one’s problem, which makes them perfect situations for the United Nations.  But because the UN does not wage war but only keeps the peace, it too defers to the Leviathan America as initial rule-set enforcer for the planet as a whole” — Thomas Barnett, The Pentagon’s New Map, p.300

Political Implications of Postmodernism, II

“(2) Cultural Determinism.  Individuals are wholly shaped by cultural forces.  Language in particular determines what we can think, trapping us in a ‘prison house of language.’” — Gene Edward Veith, Postmodern Times, p.158.