Failed States: The Abuse Of Power and the Assault On Democracy
By Noam Chomsky
In Failed States, Noam Chomsky describes how the elite of the United States have long claimed the right to interfere with the affairs of other countries (like overthrowing governments or assassinating heads of state) without
accountability for their actions.
Noam Chomsky is a polyglot, a person who has succeeded in many fields. A professor emeritus of MIT, his research has had a pivotal impact on the field of linguistics. A prolific author, Chomsky has written more than 150 books. Starting with his opposition of the Vietnam War, he has been a consistent thorn in the side of several US presidential administrations.
He argued that the US government has long denied that its actions abroad are subject to international law. While the unilateral actions of the Bush administration during the invasion of Iraq are an extreme example, past presidential administrations have interfered with the domestic affairs of other countries for over a hundred years.
Nor is the "war on terrorism" particularly new as a reason for unilateral actions abroad, according to Noam Chomsky. The same justification was used twenty years previously for actions such as the invasion of Panama. However,
while terrorism was used to justify actions such as invasions and torture, he presents evidence that combating terrorism has never been a high priority for the Bush administration, except as a means of instilling fear among American citizens.
Noam Chomsky further states that the United States shares some of the characteristics of "failed states" like Afghanistan. According to him, the gap between the issues important to average Americans and those of the
political elite is vast. The recent success of the "tea party movement" in the United States is probably evidence of the distrust that many Americans have of their own government.
Though somewhat over the top, Failed States is hard to dismiss - it will get any reader thinking. Find it at the Bob Harkins Branch in the non-fiction area.
- Reviewed by John Shepherd, former trustee for the Prince George Public Library Board
