Rogue States: The Rule of Force in World Affairs

by Noam Chomsky

Overview

In this still-timely classic, Noam Chomsky argues that the real “rogue” states are the United States and its allies. Chomsky turns his penetrating gaze toward U.S. involvement in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America to trace the enduring combined effects of military domination and economic imperialism on these regions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608464463
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	08/03/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	150
Sales rank:	241,061
File size:	592 KB

About the Author

Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. A member of the American Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. His books include At War with Asia, Towards a New Cold War, Fateful Triangle: The U. S., Israel and the Palestinians, Necessary Illusions, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy, Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

Table of Contents

• Rogue States: Who Qualifies? The criteria are fairly clear: a "rogue state" is not simply a criminal state, but one that defies the orders of the powerful—who are, of course, exempt.
• Crisis in the Balkans: NATO Forces in Yugoslavia. There is no serious doubt that the NATO bombings further undermine what remains of the fragile structure of international law.
• East Timor Retrospective. The crimes are so familiar and could so easily have been terminated. That has been true ever since Indonesia invaded in December 1975, relying on U.S. diplomatic support and arms.
• East Timor Is Not Yesterday's Story. At last report, the US has provided no funds for the Australian-led UN intervention force. Hundreds of thousands of missing people who escaped the crackdown may be starving in the mountains.
• Kosovo vs. The Middle East: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Role of the Media. In both the case of Kosovo and the case of Iraq, the United States and its allies have chosen a particular path, namely the path of extreme violence.
• Cuba and the U.S. Government: David vs. Goliath. Cuba and the United States have quite a curious status in international relations, in fact, unique. There's no other case of such a sustained assault by one power against another, in this case the greatest superpower against a poor, third world country now for 40 years.
• Sovereignty and World Order. The doctrine that the U.S. is exempt from the regime of international law goes back to the earliest days of the United Nations, though it was secret. Now the traditional U.S. stand rejecting international law has simply become very open and explicit.
• Recovering Rights: A Crooked Path. Particularly in the societies that are more privileged and that have won a significant measure of freedom, many choices are available, including fundamental institutional change if that is the right way to proceed.
• The Legacy of War. The general lessons of history are clear enough. The legacy of war is faced by the losers.
• 1898: A Century Later. By the century's end the US had become by far the greatest economy in the world, though not yet a major actor in the international area. 1898 indeed marked a turning point in that regard.
• Power in the Global Arena. The focus on the United States is distorting. The US is powerful, but not all-powerful.
• "Consent without Consent": Reflections on the Theory and Practice of Democracy. There has often been a gap between public preferences and public policy. In recent years, the gap has become substantial.

Editorial Reviews

World-famous MIT linguist Chomsky has long kept up a second career as a cogent voice of the hard left, excoriating American imperialism, critiquing blinkered journalists and attacking global economic injustice. Chomsky's new work, a collection of linked essays, comes in the wake of the Kosovo bombings and the recent riots in East Timor. Its sardonic title recalls the argument that America ought to defend the world against "rogue states" like Iraq and Libya. Chomsky contends that the U.S. (and, sometimes, its allies) has itself behaved as the biggest rogue state, ignoring international law and norms and acting only in the richest Americans' interests. Chapters cover the former Yugoslavia, East Timor, Cuba, and (a particularly powerful one) Third World debt. Chomsky includes accounts of havoc that , he charges, the U.S. has wreaked (or helped wreak) in poor countries, from overturned elections to mass slaughter--from Guatemala in the 1950s to Sudan, Cuba, Mexico and Laos today. "Contempt for the rule of law," Chomsky contends, "is deeply rooted in U.S. practice and intellectual culture." Chomsky's research can bring home disturbing issues that the mainstream media miss (for example, that the Pentagon refuses to give up data that would make it easier to clear dangerous landmines from old wars around the world). In other places, Chomsky can seem shrill, quick to judge or obsessed with irrelevant details: he spends a paragraph attacking Clinton's secretary of defense for quoting Theodore Roosevelt ("this famous racist fanatic and raving jingoist"). Though not all his points hold equal power, Chomsky has delivered another impressive argument that the U.S. flouts international law when it finds it convenient to do so. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"World-famous MIT linguist [Noam Chomsky] has long kept up a second career as a cogent voice of the hard left, excoriating American imperialism, critiquing blinkered journalists and attacking global economic injustice…. [In Rogue States] Chomsky has delivered another impressive argument that the U.S. flouts international law when it finds it convenient to do so."
—Publishers Weekly

"Noam Chomsky is like a medic attempting to cure a national epidemic of selective amnesia…. [Rogue States is] a timely guide to the tactics that the powerful employ to keep power concentrated and people compliant…. Chomsky's work is crucial at a time when our empire perpetually disguises its pursuit of power under the banners of 'aid,' 'humanitarian intervention,' and 'globalization.' Americans have to begin deciphering the rhetoric. Chomsky's a good place to start."
—Village Voice

"Nothing escapes [Chomsky's] attention… [Rogue States is] wonderfully lucid."
—PeaceWork

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