Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (with a new afterword by the author)
by Noam ChomskyAVAILABILITY: Usually ships within 2-5 days
Publication Date: 2004
Publisher: Owl / Henry Holt
Binding: Paperback
Topics: Corporate Rule, Democracy: Theory & Practice, Militarism, Third World Peoples, United States
Description: The United States is in the process of staking out not just the globe but the last unarmed spot in our neighborhood - the heavens - as a militarized sphere of influence. Our earth and its skies are, for the Bush administration, the final frontiers of imperial control. In 'Hegemony or Survival', Noam Chomsky investigates how we came to this moment, what kind of peril we find ourselves in, and why our rulers are willing to jeopardize the future of our species.
With the striking logic that is his trademark, Chomsky dissects America's quest for global supremacy, tracking the U.S. government's aggressive pursuit of policies intended to achieve "full spectrum dominance" at any cost. He lays out vividly how the various strands of policy - the militarization of space, the ballistic-missile defense program, unilateralism, the dismantling of international agreements, and the response to the Iraqi crisis - cohere in a drive for hegemony that ultimately threatens our survival. In our era, he argues, empire is a recipe for an earthly wasteland.
Lucid, rigorous, and thoroughly documented, 'Hegemony or Survival' promises to be Chomsky's most urgent and sweeping work in years, certain to spark widespread debate.
First in a new series entitled The American Empire Project.
Review(s): "If, for reasons of chance, or circumstance, (or sloth), you have to pick just one book on the subject of the American empire, pick this one. It's the Full Monty. It's Chomsky at his best. 'Hegemony or Survival' is necessary reading." - Arundhati Roy
"In this highly readable, heavily footnoted critique of American foreign policy from the late 1950s to the present, Chomsky (whose '9-11' was a bestseller last year) argues that current U.S. policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not a specific response to September 11, but simply the continuation of a consistent half-century of foreign policy - an "imperial grand strategy" - in which the United States has attempted to 'maintain its hegemony through the threat or use of military force.' Such an analysis is bound to be met with skepticism or antagonism in post-September 11 America, but Chomsky builds his arguments carefully, substantiates claims with appropriate documentation and answers expected counterclaims. Chomsky is also deeply critical of inconsistency in making the charge of "terrorism." Using the official U.S. legal code definition of terrorism, he argues that it is an exact description of U.S. foreign policy (especially regarding Cuba, Central America, Vietnam and much of the Middle East), although the term is rarely used in this way in the U.S. media, he notes, even when the World Court in 1986 condemned Washington for 'unlawful use of force' ('international terrorism, in lay terms' Chomsky argues) in Nicaragua.
Claiming that the U.S. is a rogue nation in its foreign policies and its 'contempt for international law,' Chomsky brings together many themes he has mined in the past, making this cogent and provocative book an important addition to an ongoing public discussion about U.S. policy.
This is the first title in the new American Empire Project, which the publisher describes as "provocative and critical books that will focus on the increasingly imperial cast of America's government and policy." - Publishers Weekly