Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy

by Noam Chomsky Narrated by Alan Sklar

Overview

The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against "failed states" around the globe. In this much-anticipated sequel to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, charging the United States with being a "failed state," and therefore a danger to its own people and the world.

"Failed states," Chomsky writes, are those "that do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, that regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and that suffer from a 'democratic deficit,' having democratic forms but with limited substance." Exploring recent U.S. foreign and domestic policies, Chomsky assesses Washington's escalation of nuclear risks; the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; and Americas's self-exemption from international law. He also examines an American electoral system that frustrates genuine political alternatives, thus impeding any meaningful democracy.

Forceful, lucid, and meticulously documented, Failed State: America offers a comprehensive analysis of a global superpower that has long claimed the right to reshape other nations while its own democratic institutions are in severe crisis, and its policies and practices recklessly place the world on the brink of nuclear and environmental disaster. Systematically dismantling America's pretense of being the world's arbiter of democracy, Failed State is Chomsky's most focused—and urgent—critique to date.

A Macmillan Audio production.

Editorial Reviews

Noam Chomsky does not take words lightly. The MIT linguistics professor examines government statements with special care. The man recently voted "the world's number one intellectual" notes, for example, that the United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene against "failed states" around the globe. In Failed States: America, he turns the phrase back on the Bush administration, charging that the United States of today is a "failed state" and a danger to its own people and the world. This stand-alone sequel to Hegemony or Survival continues his critique of American foreign policy and domestic practices.

Library Journal

A failed state, argues Chomsky, ignores international law and the need to protect its citizens. Guess what country fits the bill? Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

From the Publisher

Chomsky is a global phenomenon . . . perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet.” —The New York Times Book Review

AUG/SEP 06 - AudioFile

Beware of unsupported assertions! Beware of zealotry! Beware of righteous indignation! In other words, take Noam Chomsky with a grain of salt. The ground-breaking linguist and vociferous political iconoclast launches yet another jeremiad on the world situation and American culpability. What he calls "failed states," the rest of us may know as "rogue states," those whose citizens are in chaos and fear, and whose policies threaten international stability. Without blunting Chomsky's message, gravelly voiced Alan Sklar ably emphasizes his eloquence and dials down his shrillness. He eases the way for the objective listener to judge Chomsky's interpretation of current events, to separate the wheat from the chaff of his arguments. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172039676
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	04/04/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Failed States

The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy

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By Chomsky, Noam

Metropolitan Books

Copyright © 2006 Chomsky, Noam
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0805079122

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Preface

The selection of issues that should rank high on the agenda of concern for human welfare and rights is, naturally, a subjective matter. But there are a few choices that seem unavoidable, because they bear so directly on the prospects for decent survival. Among them are at least these three: nuclear war, environmental disaster, and the fact that the government of the world's leading power is acting in ways that increase the likelihood of these catastrophes. It is important to stress the government, because the population, not surprisingly, does not agree. That brings up a fourth issue that should deeply concern Americans, and the world: the sharp divide between public opinion and public policy, one of the reasons for the fear, which cannot casually be put aside, that "the American 'system' as a whole is in real trouble--that it is heading in a direction that spells the end of its historic values [of] equality, liberty, and meaningful democracy."1

The "system" is coming to have some of the features of failed states, to adopt a currently fashionable notion that is conventionally applied to states regarded as potential threats to our security (like Iraq) or as needing our intervention to rescue thepopulation from severe internal threats (like Haiti). Though the concept is recognized to be "frustratingly imprecise," some of the primary characteristics of failed states can be identified. One is their inability or unwillingness to protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction. Another is their tendency to regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and hence free to carry out aggression and violence. And if they have democratic forms, they suffer from a serious "democratic deficit" that deprives their formal democratic institutions of real substance.2

Among the hardest tasks that anyone can undertake, and one of the most important, is to look honestly in the mirror. If we allow ourselves to do so, we should have little difficulty in finding the characteristics of "failed states" right at home. That recognition of reality should be deeply troubling to those who care about their countries and future generations. "Countries," plural, because of the enormous reach of US power, but also because the threats are not localized in space or time.

The first half of this book is devoted mostly to the increasing threat of destruction caused by US state power, in violation of international law, a topic of particular concern for citizens of the world dominant power, however one assesses the relevant threats. The second half is concerned primarily with democratic institutions, how they are conceived in the elite culture and how they perform in reality, both in "promoting democracy" abroad and shaping it at home.

The issues are closely interlinked, and arise in several contexts. In discussing them, to save excessive footnoting I will omit sources when they can easily be found in recent books of mine.3

Copyright © 2006 by Harry Chomsky, as Trustee of Chomsky Grandchildren Nominee Trust

Continues...

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Excerpted from Failed States by Chomsky, Noam Copyright © 2006 by Chomsky, Noam. Excerpted by permission.
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