Hegemony or Survival America's quest for global dominance, Noam Chomsky

Résumé du document

In this book, Noam Chomsky presents a view of American foreign policy over the ages, developing a very widespread theory that is clearly presented in the first chapter's title "Imperial Grand Strategy". In fact, he explains how the US, especially since the beginning of the 21st century in the context of the Iraq war, is trying to maintain its global dominance over other countries.

The Bush administration, following a strategy that has already been implemented from the post war period, wants to make the world become unipolar, where the US is the only nation that is able to make all the decisions without facing any competition. A very interesting quote made by Chomsky to back up his thesis belongs to the Wilsonian idealist foreign policy relying on "the imperative of America's mission as the vanguard of history, transforming the global order and, in doing so, perpetuating its own dominance".

Extraits

[...] I am of course talking about the control and the reshaping of the world according to American criteria in terms of economy, politics, society and even religion The other use of this practice lies in the fact that certain events, figures or stories, not the glorious ones obviously, but the ones the administration wants to keep secret, are not reported in the US. Americans only know their history through the pieces of information that the government is willing to convey. [...]

[...] I will now present my own analysis of his arguments based on what I think, what I read and what I learned about US foreign policy. First I would like to say that I agree with most of the points made by Chomsky but during the semester I must admit that some speakers helped me to understand certain aspects of American foreign policy. I think the most dangerous behavior regarding the US policy is the unilateralism. In a world always looking for globalization the first superpower has a moral duty to act with the support and the help of all the other countries. [...]

[...] However, in Asia this has not been the case and nowadays Asia is changing and seeking for independence, returning to a pre-colonization position of wealth and power. Chomsky wants to show that “successful defiances” against the US can also emerge from industrialized areas. Cauldron of Animosities The US are concerned with the nuclear development of Iran, Pakistan or North-Korea, but regarding the high tech Israel military forces supported by the US aid, coupled with an alliance with nuclear India, it is seen as a real danger by the people in the region. [...]

[...] In 1982, Cuba replaced Iraq in the terrorists' states list so that Saddam Hussein could receive US aid. On a domestic scale, as Reagan or Bush's policies were unpopular, they found a way to keep their political power anyway: inspire fear and frighten people. They tried to derive their attention toward the international dangers making them believe that the country was threatened (Libya war was the first use of the article 51 of the UN Charter as a “preventive the drug war in Panama was another pretext to intervene, They also decided to cut the budget, considering expenses in social security or public schools as “deviations from the right replacing the difficult social issues by national security ones. [...]

[...] He also highlights the principle of universality according to which the US should apply to themselves the same standards they apply to others. The terror and the potential threats are unlimited, and as long as the US supports corrupt and repressive regimes instead of promoting democracy, this hatred against Americans will remain. A passing nightmare? After the attacks on WTC in 1993, people were scared and the US used this fear to pursue its struggle against these rogue states and Russia and China joined this cause to justify their atrocities in their own interest. [...]