Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy in an Age of Interdependence

by Benjamin R. Barber

Book Overview

Benjamin R. Barber lambasts the Bush administration's attempt to fight fear with fear in the age of terrorism and argues against the tendency to confuse the spread of McWorld - the seductive blend of free-market ideology and American brands - with the spread of democracy. containment and deterrence, and the dilemmas faced by America today. He rails against unilateralism, nuclear deterrence and reliance on military solutions, advocating instead an...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393058360
• ISBN13: 9780393058369
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Anxieties and absurdities

A couple of centuries ago, essayists voiced opinions in newspapers or pamphlets. Some, hidden in anonymity, could counsel protest and sedition. Today's freer societies allows the writer to drop a mask hiding identity. Voicing opinions openly is easier. The downside is that it may take a whole book. And the problems appear to be looming far larger than they were long ago. Examining foundation causes takes more ink. In this insightful study, Benjamin Barber applies the best essayist's style to address the issues underlying today's American expansionism. A nation that once based its relationship with other nations on the promise that it would never start a war, has adopted an unilateral adventurist role. And that new identity has far outstripped in time and scope any historical precedent. The entire globe is threatened with becoming "Americanised". Why should that be happening? With clear, incisive prose Barber examines the roots of the values held in the United States and how those are being manifested in its "foreign policy". Once, it was important to Americans that society be governed by "the rule of law". This commonly-used and nearly trite phrase reflected both the foundation of compromise among the States embodied in the US Constitution and in how Americans interacted with other nations. The attitude created a sense of moral superiority to American dealings with other nations - an attitude Barber labels "exceptionalism". This high sense of self-worth carried the American population across the continent. Who else could coin a term like "Manifest Destiny" to sweep aside indigenous peoples in creating a contiguous empire? Once the North American landmass was occupied, according to Barber, the United States could sit smugly isolated from the remainder of the planet. Two global conflicts, which the Americans viewed in absolutist terms, eroded the notion of "isolationism", but didn't erase the concept of "exceptionalism". With the high moral fervour it adopted in pursuing two world wars, the United States has entered on an expansionist programme, accellerated by the attack on the World Trade Centre. That assault gave the Republican incumbent administration the impetus to use fear in two directions - within the United States and beyond its borders. Are Bush's foreign policies derived from his cabal of "neo-con" advisors? Barber dismisses that notion. Bush, he says, is sufficiently motivated by a strong belief in America's "missionary rationales" and "exceptional virtue". With the power available to enforce those values elsewhere, Barber demonstrates how Bush is able to divide the world into "Manichean camps" of good and evil. From that stance the President has convinced enoughAmericans that foreign intervention is just and proper. It allows him to sacrifice troops in a flawed campaign to force democracy in Iraq at gunpoint while retaining domestic support. Using fear at home allows Bush to instill fear abroad. Barber ins

One of the most reliable criticism of American unilateralism

JIHAD vs. McWorld was good, but this is much better! Above all the author well understands the importance of what George Washington once emphasized as a maxim of American Foreign Policy: international coordination. What the Bush Administration has done so far is almost reversal of the heritage. Preventive war (means nothing but invasion) not Preemptive war, list of 'Rogue States,' democratization with missiles, etc. Only 10 out of about 200 countries reluctantly follow the U.S. The author excellently illuminates such endangering America. Really brilliant! I am convinced that Prof. Hoffmann also recommends.

The right prescription

This book was welcome follow-up to Benjamin Barber's famous book Jihad vs. McWorld and in it he expands on the themes of already established in that book. In many ways the first book foretold the present foreign policy challenges faced by the 'North'and the 'Sout'h'. However, unlike harsher dialectics proposed by Samuel Huntington and more recently Richard perle in his draconian solution to world problems featured in the lamentable but unequivocably harsh "An End To Evil", Barber does not speak in terms of black or white. His approach is well reasoned, and differs in tone even from other alternative, or so called 'liberal' texts that criticize America's current foreign policy approach. Barber writes with reason and suggests that rather than exporting democracy and markets, the more priviliged world under America's leadership should be engaged in the building of citizens and civil society first, for it is on that basis that lasting democracies are built. I found the book became more interesting and engaging in the second half where the argument against the idea of a preventive war, turns into an argument against the éxport'of democracy for the creation of the right structures and circumstances that help to build and sustain democracy in the developing world. This is an important work that should be read by all those who wish to understand - reasonably and without hyperbole - the dangers of America's current foreign policy

Reality + Willingness = Vision, Inspiration and Hope

There are so many books out there on Terrorism, Politics, Foreign Diplomacy and how America is seen in the eyes of the world...Barber has been writing about it for a long time. Read the reviews for all the other books he's written and you will see that this man is a highly regarded and consistent writer. It's so easy to theorize. Barber walks the walk and talks the talk. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand this book. You'll also feel like you have a better sense of what America needs to do in order to come to terms with a reality in this world that is greater than America's borders...and America's bank accounts...and America's dream of "manifest destiny".I finished this book feeling like there was something I could do in response to what's happening in my world. I don't have to "leave it to others" to get involved and make decisions. I can choose to live in an interdependent world...not one where everybody is killing everybody else - or forcing everybody else to do things "their way" in the name of their "independence".Thank you, Mr. Barber...but, as I'm sure you know, "you can lead horses to water but you can't make 'em drink".