Dilemmas Of Domination

From the acclaimed globalization critic, a far-reaching analysis of America's military, economic, and political vulnerability The empire seems unassailable, but the empire is weak-and precisely because of its imperial ambitions. So argues Walden Bello's provocative new book, which systematically dissects the strategic, economic, and political dilemmas confronting America as a consequence of its quest for global domination. An award-winning development expert, Bello shows how despite the enormity of the U.S. defense budget, American forces are already overextended, a condition bound to intensify as each local "victory" breeds simmering resistance and new confrontation. He points to the empire's looming economic breakdown, the result of its gargantuan military costs, record-breaking deficits, and exploitative trade and investment relations with developing countries. On the political front, he warns of the bitter disillusionment mounting around the world in response to America's failure to champion liberal democracy. Everywhere America goes, crony capitalism, hostile coercion, and gross inequalities in income eat away at expectations of justice and inclusion. A clear and prophetic examination, Dilemmas of Domination reveals a not-too-distant future in which the empire's hidden weaknesses will yield fatal challenges to American supremacy.

From "the world's leading no-nonsense revolutionary," a bold and effective analysis of American military, economic, and political vulnerability (Naomi Klein) The empire seems unassailable, but the empire is weak--and precisely because of its quest for global domination. So argues Walden Bello in this provocative portrait of imperial self-destruction, which systematically dissects the dilemmas confronting America as a result of its drive for supremacy. Puncturing the myth of American invincibility, Bello exposes its carefully concealed contradictions: despite the enormity of the U.S. military apparatus, American forces are critically overextended and ever threatened by the simmering resistance each new "victory" breeds. Though America is still the land of unprecedented prosperity, economic breakdown looms, the consequence of gargantuan military costs, exploitative trade and investment relations with developing countries, and record-breaking deficits. A clear and prophetic examination, Dilemmas of Domination reveals a not-too-distant future in which the empire's hidden weaknesses will yield fatal challenges to American omnipotence. "With unsentimental clarity, Walden Bello speaks the truth about American empire and why it is doomed by its own contradictions." --William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism

Given the dramatic changes that have taken place in global politics in recent years (especially following September 11, 2001), it is time to examine a series of critical issues confronting the global political economy. One of the most important of these issues is terrorism and its relationship with weak states. This book examines the weak state-terrorism nexus with particular emphasis on Africa. Specifically, it provides an in-depth analysis of state weakness, poverty, and the opportunities offered by the latter for the breeding of terrorism and terrorists. It also looks at the part played by radical Islam in transnational terrorism in Africa. Emerging from this study is recognition of a need for the international system to analyze a wide range of issues that contribute to the weakening of African states.

This volume focuses on two questions: why do people from one social group oppress and discriminate against people from other groups? and why is this oppression so mind numbingly difficult to eliminate? The answers to these questions are framed using the conceptual framework of social dominance theory. Social dominance theory argues that the major forms of intergroup conflict, such as racism, classism and patriarchy, are all basically derived from the basic human predisposition to form and maintain hierarchical and group-based systems of social organization. In essence, social dominance theory presumes that, beneath major and sometimes profound difference between different human societies, there is also a basic grammar of social power shared by all societies in common. We use social dominance theory in an attempt to identify the elements of this grammar and to understand how these elements interact and reinforce each other to produce and maintain group-based social hierarchy.

This book tackles the philosophical challenge of bridging the gap between empirical research into communication and information technology, and normative questions of justice and how we ought to communicate with each other. It brings the question of what justice demands of communication to the center of social science research. Max Hänska undertakes expansive philosophical analysis to locate the proper place of normativity in social science research, a looming subject in light of the sweeping roles of information technologies in our social world today. The book’s first section examines metatheoretical issues to provide a framework for normative analysis, while the second applies this framework to three technological epochs: broadcast communication, the Internet and networked communications, and the increasing integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies into our communication systems. Hänska goes beyond the prevailing frameworks in the field by exploring how we answer normative questions and how our answer can change depending on our social context and the affordances of prevailing communications technologies. This book provides an essential guide for scholars as well as graduate and advanced undergraduate students of research and theory in communication, philosophy, political science, and the social sciences.

'Walden Bello is the world's leading no-nonsense revolutionary.' - Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine In this eye-opening and often scathing book, Walden Bello provides a forensic dissection of contemporary capitalism's multiple crises. Trenchant but constructive, Bello's analysis of the collapse of the global real economy, covering such issues as the Wall Street meltdown, the disintegration of the Greek economy, and the rise of China, emphasizes the ever more pressing need to engage in a radical process of deglobalization towards a decentralized, pluralistic world system. Only then will we be able to construct a fairer and more equitable society. A stirring call to arms for all those interested in global economic justice.

Presented here is a condensed translation of Alexander Rustow's three-volume Ortsbestimmung der Gegenwart. This monumental work was widely acclaimed by critics throughout Europe as a major contribution to both historical and sociological scholarship. Recognized as one of the foremost exponents of neoliberal thought, and thus as one of the intellectual authors of West Germany's economic miracle," Rustow--in his magnum opus--tried to determine what social patterns and trends of thought enhance the human condition and what other patterns and trends lead to repression and barbarism. Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Emerging relatively unscathed from the banking crisis of 2008, China has been viewed as a model of both rampant success and fiscal stability. But beneath the surface lies a network of fissures that look likely to erupt into the next big financial crash. A bloated real-estate sector, roller-coaster stock market, and rapidly growing shadow-banking sector have all coalesced to create a perfect storm: one that is in danger of taking the rest of the world’s economy with it. Walden Bello traces our recent history of financial crises – from the bursting of Japan’s ‘bubble economy’ in 1990 to Wall Street in 2008 – taking in their political and human ramifications such as rising inequality and environmental degradation. He not only predicts that China might be the site of the next crash, but that under neoliberalism this will simply keep happening. The only way that we can stop this cycle, Bello argues, is through a fundamental change in the ways that we organise: a shift to cooperative enterprise, respectful of the environment, and which fractures the twin legacies of imperialism and capitalism. Insightful, erudite and passionate, Paper Dragons is a must-read for anyone wishing to prevent the next financial meltdown.

Treating rhetoric and symbols as central rather than peripheral to politics, Lisa Wedeen’s groundbreaking book offers a compelling counterargument to those who insist that politics is primarily about material interests and the groups advocating for them. During the thirty-year rule of President Hafiz al-Asad’s regime, his image was everywhere. In newspapers, on television, and during orchestrated spectacles. Asad was praised as the “father,” the “gallant knight,” even the country’s “premier pharmacist.” Yet most Syrians, including those who create the official rhetoric, did not believe its claims. Why would a regime spend scarce resources on a personality cult whose content is patently spurious? Wedeen shows how such flagrantly fictitious claims were able to produce a politics of public dissimulation in which citizens acted as if they revered the leader. By inundating daily life with tired symbolism, the regime exercised a subtle, yet effective form of power. The cult worked to enforce obedience, induce complicity, isolate Syrians from one another, and set guidelines for public speech and behavior. Wedeen‘s ethnographic research demonstrates how Syrians recognized the disciplinary aspects of the cult and sought to undermine them. In a new preface, Wedeen discusses the uprising against the Syrian regime that began in 2011 and questions the usefulness of the concept of legitimacy in trying to analyze and understand authoritarian regimes.

“Continuing his career-long exploration of modern democracy, Dahl addresses a question that has long vexed students of political theory: the place of independent organizations, associations, or special interest groups within the democratic state.”—The Wilson Quarterly “There is probably no greater expert today on the subject of democratic theory than Dahl….His proposal for an ultimate adoption here of a ‘decentralized socialist economy,’ a system primarily of worker ownership and control of economic production, is daring but rational, reflecting his view that economic inequality seems destined to become the major issue here it historically has been in Europe.”—Library Journal “Dahl reaffirms his commitment to pluralist democracy while attempting to come to terms with some of its defects.”—Laura Greyson, Worldview “Anyone who is interested in these issues and who makes the effort the book requires will come away the better for it. And more. He will receive an explanation for our current difficulties that differs considerably from the explanation for our current difficulties that differs considerably from the explanation offered by the Reagan administration, and a prescription for the future which differs fundamentally from the nostrums emanating from the White House.”—Dennis Carrigan, The (Louisville, Kentucky) Courier-Journal