On Monday, August 11, 2003 at 16:04:29 (-0400) Doug Henwood writes: >Devine, James wrote: > >> >I'd say the Empire thesis has some life in it yet.< >> >>in 25 words or less, how would you summarize the "Empire thesis"? > >What's relevant here is that imperial power is far more dispersed and >polycentric than the old-fashioned Washington/Hollywood/Wall Street >rules the world models would have it. A major part of the Bush agenda >in Iraq was to show the world that the U.S. runs the show, and the >messy outcome is showing that it doesn't.
I agree with your later comment in which you mention Kautsky, but I don't with this last sentence. I don't think the chaos shows this. I think the U.S. "runs the show" internationally in that what it says pretty much goes. If any other country objects to our policy, that's just too bad and we'll do what we want. To me, that's pretty much "running the show". Should things get messy when we invade and take over a country, that just shows that dominating others is sometimes, well, messy. In the meantime, the crisis will be useful for averting attention from the domestic policy that will harm the great majority of the population, and cleaning up the mess will be paid for by the public (Iraqi and U.S.), etc. Bill
