Re: your mail

Am in strong agreement with AGF on these two issues, viz.: 1) against the
extension of the U.S. imperial realm by incorporating countries into its
hegemonic orbit which it deems meet its criteria of what a "democracy"
is; and 2) dismissal of the absurd and naive thesis that "democracies" do
not go to war amongst themselves and, hence, are more "pacific".

Not only do such propositions completely distort what is meant by the term
"democracy" (in the Aristotelian sense from his Politics, i.e. 
"demos"--the people without wealth, and "kratos" or "kratia"--authority
of) but, moreover, they perpetuate the completely propagandistic attempt
by world capitalism to ingratiate itself with the interests of working
people.  Not only do modern American government textbooks oftentimes fail
to mention that Aristotle deemed democracies to be deformed systems of
government but, moreover, they fail to mention that even Madison in
Federalist No. 10 disparaged democracies because, he said, they "can admit
of no cure for the mischiefs of faction."  

Democracies, from Madison's perspective, "have ever been spectacles of
turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal
security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in
their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."  Hence, for
Madison and the Federalists, a republic (i.e. a representative government)
was necessary, not only because it presumably could be applicable to a
greater sphere of territory and larger number of citizens, but, more to
the point, he states, because the effect of representation is:  "to refine
and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a
chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest
of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least
likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations."  Such
distrust of the average people is continuous throughout The Federalist
Papers, hence the scheme for political control of a few so-called
"representatives".  One can quickly see the absurdity of such a
proposition simply by looking at the propagandistic attempt of
Congressional members to milk the Elian Gonzalez affair for all of its
anti-communist potential possible while poll after poll indicates that the
American people themselves indicate that they are not swayed by temporary
or partial considerations but instead recognize the basic truth at stake,
viz. the need to return a kidnapped child to his father.

The course of world development, however, has not been kind to oppressors,
particularly those who dismiss the interests of the vast majority of
people in the world today, the modern international working class.  Thus,
it has been a matter of necessity, beginning in the late nineteenth
century, but further consolidated in the twentieth century, for all
governments which aspire to legitimacy to cradle the mantle of "democracy"
and claim to serve the interests of "all" of its citizenry, at least all
of those officially deemed to be such.  But one need not be a social
scientist to realize that capitalism has been unable--because it is not
structured as such--to serve the interests of all people existing within
the confines of its operational parameters.  And as WSN is a listserv
primarily for the search for regularities, axiomatic propositions or
applications, and theoretical insights, or collectively what is better
known as the truth regarding world systems, we need not, and indeed should
not, allow supposedly patriotic musings to be posted uncritically, less
one presume they possess scientific validity.

Outright dismissal is usually my response to such pedestrian and trite
postings, especially because of their overusage, but it is refeshing and
beneficial to the World Systems list that AGF, amongst others, openly
critiques such misguided, and/or confused or simply false, notions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colin S. Cavell                        For each new class which puts
Department of Political Science        itself in the place of one ruling
Thompson Tower                         before it, is compelled, merely in
Box 37520                              order to carry through its aim, to
University of Massachusetts            represent its interest as the 
Amherst, MA  01003-7520                common interest of all the members
INTERNET:  cscpo@polsci.umass.edu      of society, that is, expressed in
VOICE:  (413) 546-3408                 ideal form: it has to give its 
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cscpo   ideas the form of universality, and
                                       represent them as the only 
                                       rational, universally valid ones.
                                       --Karl Marx, "The German Ideology,"
                                         1845-6
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________________________________________
On Tue, 25 Jan 2000, Gunder Frank wrote:

> 
> Someone wrote on WSN that
> 
>  We must have a political, military, and economic union of the
> democracies.  The door must be left open for any other country to come in
> as soon as it meets the criteria set up by the founding democracies. 
> Just as freedom, liberty, and security have increased the bigger the U.S. 
>has become, so the same will
> be true as we unite the democracies. 
> 
> AGF again: Well, we just had exactly that in the NATO war against
> Yugoslavia and Kosovo. And look at the results: wanton destruction
> of life, property, environment and all in the second and in the
> first complete disregards of national democratic and constitutional 
>process
> [not a single parliamente was consulted, US, German and otehr
> constitutions violated] and the complete destruction of international
> UN institutuions and law. Three countries in Central Europe just joined
> this venture, and the original writer wants more to join? What world is
> s/he living in? Answer: None.,
> 
> How can this kind of fallacy of misplaced concreteness appear on a WORLD
> SYSTEM net, devoted to how it is participation in a WORLD system that is
> determinant or at least influential in t he condition and behavior of its
> individual parts?  For this nonsense about democracy follows the writer's
> tired old gibberish about demomcracies not ging to war among themselves
> while dictatorships do. Proof again that cross-sectinal
> comparative analysis of the parts not only obscures the whole system bu
> totally distort s any possible view of the parts themselves. Where in that
> 'analysis' are the dozens of dictatoships created/supported/prolonged 
> by US democracy? Or US/French/ British and now NATO "democracies"'
> military intervention and agression arond the world? Indeed the creation 
> BY the 'democracies' of the very conditions elsewhere that the writer
> laments? what does s/he think the battle about the WTO was about?
> 
> How about the writer taking a course in World Systems Analysis 101 ?
> 
> Even then s/he would probably flunk
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                      ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
>           Visiting Professor  of  International Relations       
> University of Miami           &         Florida International University  
> 
> 380 Giralda Ave. Apt 704                Tel: 1-305-648 1906
> Miami - Coral Gables FL                 Fax: 1-305-648 0149
> USA  33134                              e-mail:agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca 
> 
> Personal/Professional Home Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/
> 
> My NATO/Kosovo Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/nato_kosovo/ 
>      
> 
> My professional/personal conclusion is the same as Pogo's - 
>             We have met the enemy, and it is US 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
>