Re: The nuclear arms race in South Asia

Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:54:08 +0200
Austrian Embassy (austria@it.com.pl)

Why core powers? This is a fatal conceit - I think - for the future of
American-European relations, to put it bluntly. Looking at the quality and
quantity of burning effigies, flags etc. around the world, I am afraid
there are other candidates in other parts of the world! This is all too
mechanistic, and overlooks the long term ideological challenges. People
like Bassam Tibi and Adel Khoury did very good research on these issues;
and in addition, we should not forget the already existing long-term power
projections and military buildups, already described by Paul Kennedy. The
real danger in South Asia is, that this regional conflict will link up in
years to come to these structures, centered around China and the real
feelings of discrimination, shared in large parts of the Islamic world.

And a good analysis of Germany's challenge in the 19th and early 20th
Century will show that, far from being a core power, it was rather an
ascending semi-periphery.

So my future projections rather look like those of Joshua Goldstein and
Paul Kennedy.

And what is the answer? World government, democratic structures, centered
around the UN and inter-cultural dialogue, to avoid the desaster.

Arno Tausch

----------
> From: christopher chase-dunn <chriscd@jhu.edu>
> To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
> Subject: Re: The nuclear arms race in South Asia
> Date: Mittwoch, 03. Juni 1998 22:46
>
> Dan Green wonders if multipolarity will return. It is likely to, but
> not right away. Real multipolarity means contending core powers with
> serious military capability. By the end of the next K-wave upswing ( in
> the 2020s) this kind of world could reemerge. It is a future that it
> would be better to avoid.
> Chris Chase-Dunn
>