Prisoners Tortured At The Top Level
Into The American Future

Imperialism Today

Kashmiri Nomad:

Western civilization no longer defines itself for reasons of political correctness in terms of race but none the less views it a collective duty upon itself to civilise those less fortunate than itself.

That's not true. If anything, the West has physically retreated from the rest of the world. For example, the British Empire rapidly fell apart after WWII. India, East Pakistan, West Pakistan, Burma, Palestine Mandate, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya are some of the countries that were once ruled by the Brits.

The language in which imperial conquest is couched in may have changed but the effects are still the same. No longer is there mention of the White Man's Burden or the Manifest Destiny but rather platitudes regarding globalisation, free markets and democracy are now the oft repeated mantras.

So, for example, saying that the North Koreans should be allowed to trade with the world and have a free marketplace and be allowed to vote is ... equivalent to imperialism?

Human nature irrespective of what one may wish to believe has always been the same and will always be the same. Throughout history the human experience has witnessed mighty empires from the Egyptians to the Assyrians to the Persians to the Macedonians to the Romans to the Sassanids to the Caliphate to the Mongols to the European colonialist. Two themes tie all of the a fore mentioned together and they are conquest and domination.

I'm surprised he put the Caliphate in that group.

Why should one expect that just because we are in 2007 human nature will have changed when it has not changed in the last 5000 years.

Human governance has gone through incredible changes over that time. We've moved on from helots, serfs, and slaves to free men, at least in the West. To support this way of living -- to endorse human rights -- is not to call for imperialism, for in the end, the West doesn't gain any "control" over the free peoples.

Of course, by doing so, the West does have something to gain: security. Oddly enough, free nations, and thus free peoples, don't fight each other often.

It also doesn't make sense to put the super powers of all ages into one category. For instance, the US did rule a large part of Germany and the whole of Japan for many years following WWII. But the US didn't "dominate" them. After a few years, America voluntarily gave up control of the political institutions in these two nations. Today, they are free to construct their own domestic and foreign policies.

How many empires of the past did that? Human nature might be similar at the personal level but it can't be denied that Western Civilization is far superior to any and all other systems of government created by man.

It would be uncivilized if one hoped that those who don't reside in the West continue to live a miserable existence.

Comments

Saul

Well said.

The only thing I might draw notice to is that the term "Western civilization" is always used where "modern" or "global civilization" is more accurate. I have nothing against the West but the concepts of free trade, private property rights, free enterprise, democracy, individual rights to expression and conscience etc. are very new additions to Western life. Nations around the world are proving that these principles work in cultures that are very different from those of the West.

It is true that these concepts developed in the West but not exclusively. In fact, these empires that this writer holds in contempt were successful mainly due to their discovery of just a few of these "Western" principles. I have recently been reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World and from there I have renewed my interest in history. One thing that stands out is how many empires have flourished by clueing in to a few of the basics of freedom.

It is hard to think of these agricultural empires and freedom at the same time and by modern standards they fail miserably but even the most brutal empires generally expanded transportation links, protected merchants from piracy, enacted something similar to rule of law and facilitated the spread of technological innovation. They provided their subjects with a level of freedom that individual kings could not.

The West is merely the first civilization to get most of the basics right at the same time as having a democratic society to enshrine them. Maybe freedom and prosperity should be "imperial" values in the sense of them being worthy of "inflicting" on others.

serendip

Outstanding post. thx.

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