Blogs - Adam Curtis - HOW TO KILL A RATIONAL PEASANT. The Wilsonian Moment: Erez Manela. Winner of the Stuart L. Bernath Prize (for best first book) from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize"Trawling through four national archives, Manela has produced an immensely rich and important work of comparative politics. " - Pankaj Mishra, London Review of BooksDuring the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, while key decisions were debated by the victorious Allied powers, a multitude of smaller nations and colonies held their breath, waiting to see how their fates would be decided.
President Woodrow Wilson, in his Fourteen Points, had called for "a free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims," giving equal weight would be given to the opinions of the colonized peoples and the colonial powers. Among those nations now paying close attention to Wilson's words and actions were the budding nationalist leaders of four disparate non-Western societies - Egypt, India, China, and Korea. Imperialism Without Colonies :: Monthly Review Press. With an introduction by John Bellamy Foster Paperback, 160 pages ISBN: 1-58367-094-7Released: April 2003 In the decades after 1945, as colonial possessions became independent states, it was widely-believed that imperialism as a historical phenomenon was coming to an end. The six essays collected in this volume demonstrate that a new form of imperialism was, in fact, taking shape—an imperialism defined not by colonial rule but by the global capitalist market.
From the outset, the dominant power in this imperialism without colonies was the United States. Magdoff’s essays explain how this imperialism works, why it generates ever greater inequality, repression, and militarism, and the essential role it plays in the development of U.S. capitalism. His concluding essay presciently points out the limits of any attempted reform of the global economy which does not directly challenge the framework of capitalism. Harry Magdoff is a great teacher and an indomitable combatant. —István Mészáros Contents. Resurrecting Empire: western footprints and America's perilous path in the ... - Rashid Khalidi. Begun as the United States moved its armed forces into Iraq, Rashid Khalidi's powerful and thoughtful new book examines the record of Western involvement in the region and analyzes the likely outcome of our most recent Middle East incursions.
Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the political and cultural history of the entire region as well as interviews and documents, Khalidi paints a chilling scenario of our present situation and yet offers a tangible alternative that can help us find the path to peace rather than Empire. We all know that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly, as Khalidi reveals with clarity and surety, America's leaders seem blindly committed to an ahistorical path of conflict, occupation, and colonial rule. Our current policies ignore rather than incorporate the lessons of experience. American troops in Iraq have seen first hand the consequences of U.S. led "democratization" in the region. From the Hardcover edition. American Empire and the Good Life: Hypocrisy and Fantasy at Home and Abroad.
On television, we watch attractive lovers drinking red wine in a lush New Zealand vineyard. Cut. Syrian soldiers drag a body down the street. Incongruous images like these aren’t just the stuff of late-night television viewing; equally discordant scenes, "links," flash up on computer screens where many of us surf. In fact, just about everywhere you look, advertisements for the "good life" coincide, with almost naturalized self-evidence, with registrations of another country’s cruelty.
It’s as if the desires for pleasure and calls for moral outrage have something in common, which they do: the capacity to make us feel good. All the more visible in these media saturated times, claims to American virtue and experiences of feel-swell righteousness are nevertheless not new; they have been a common feature of U.S. politics, enabling domestic support for imperial projects from Wilson onwards. Incoherent Empire - Mann. Incoherent Empire. The Rise and Decline of the American "Empire" - 11 - 2012. LSE IDEAS and International Relations public lecture and book launch Date: Thursday 22 November 2012 Time: 6.30-8pm Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building Speaker: Professor Geir Lundestad While the United States has been the world’s leading power from 1945 into the new millennium, it is now being challenged, primarily by China.
In many respects the world is without a clear leader. Geir Lundestad is director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. His new book is The Rise and Decline of the American “Empire”: power and its limits in comparative perspective. Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEUSempire This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Podcast A podcast of this event is available to download from The Rise and Decline of the American "Empire"|. Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel|. The Rise or Fall of the American Empire - By Robert Kagan, Gideon Rachman, and Daniel W. Drezner. Dan Drezner: Dear Bob and Gideon, It's an honor to be moderating this discussion between the two of you. You have both managed to author interesting and cogently argued books that are nevertheless at odds with each other on the future of world order.
Gideon, you are of the belief that the Age of Anxiety is upon us, due in no small part to the waning of American power and the Western model of political economy more generally. Bob, you rebut arguments about American decline by pointing out the ways in which current commentators have wildly exaggerated American power in the past and the ways in which current U.S. power resources are still quite robust. Where you both seem to agree is on the necessity of American power to ensure global order and prosperity. To get the ball rolling, let me start with a few queries for Gideon. Cheers, Dan Gideon Rachman: Dear Dan, You are right that Bob and I agree on the importance of American power for the stability and prosperity of the world.
Drezner: Rachman: American Decline?