Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy in the Age of Independence

Eagles and owls -- The myth of independence -- The war of all against all -- The "new" doctrine of preventive war -- The "old" doctrine of deterrence -- Preventive democracy -- You can't export McWorld and call it democracy -- You can't export America and call it freedom -- CivWorld. The author of Jihad vs. McWorld analyzes how American foreign policy has gone wrong—and how it could go right.In this hard-hitting book, Benjamin R. Barber—one of the world's most inspiring voices on behalf of democratic citizenship—marshals American political and diplomatic history to lambast the Bush administration's attempt to fight fear (of terrorism) with fear (of "preventive" war). Barber examines the controversial issues that underlie both the Cold War theory of containment and deterrence and the dilemmas faced by America today. He argues forcefully against unilateralism, nuclear deterrence, and reliance on military solutions. And he inveighs against the tendency of recent administrations to confuse the spread of McWorld —that seductive blend of free-market ideology and American brands—with the spread of democracy. Barber argues for an America that promotes cooperation, multilateralism, international law, and pooled sovereignty. For as law and citizenship alone secure liberty within nations, law and citizenship alone can secure liberty among them, freeing them from fear.

About the Author:
: Benjamin R. Barber is Gershon and Carol Kekst Professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland and a principal of The Democracy Collaborative. He lives in New York City.

"Fear's Empire lays the foundation for a principled opposition based on America's truest and best values."—Senator Gary Hart

The author of Jihad vs. McWorld analyzes how American foreign policy has gone wrongand how it could go right. In this hard-hitting but pragmatic new critique of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Benjamin R. Barber exposes in detail the folly of an agenda of preventive war, placing it in the context of two hundred years of American strategic doctrine (including the recent history of deterrence and containment). He shows how chosen "rogue states" have been made to stand in for terrorists too difficult to locate and destroy, and how the United States continues to support dictatorship in nations it regards as friends, while still believing we can impose democracy on vanquished enemies at the barrel of a gun. Barber argues for an America that promotes cooperation, multilateralism, international law, and pooled sovereignty. For as law and citizenship alone secure liberty within nations, law and citizenship alone can secure liberty among them, freeing them from fear.

" Fear's Empire lays the foundation for a principled opposition based on America's truest and best values."--Senator Gary Hart The author of Jihad vs. McWorld analyzes how American foreign policy has gone wrongand how it could go right. In this hard-hitting but pragmatic new critique of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Benjamin R. Barber exposes in detail the folly of an agenda of preventive war, placing it in the context of two hundred years of American strategic doctrine (including the recent history of deterrence and containment). He shows how chosen "rogue states" have been made to stand in for terrorists too difficult to locate and destroy, and how the United States continues to support dictatorship in nations it regards as friends, while still believing we can impose democracy on vanquished enemies at the barrel of a gun. Barber argues for an America that promotes cooperation, multilateralism, international law, and pooled sovereignty. For as law and citizenship alone secure liberty within nations, law and citizenship alone can secure liberty among them, freeing them from fear. "In this hard-hitting but pragmatic new critique of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Benjamin R. Barber "provides the first coherent and insightful response to the dubious and dangerous doctrines of preemptive attack and preventive war" (Senator Gary Hart). He shows how chosen "rogue states" have been made to stand in for terrorists too difficult to locate and destroy, and how the United States continues to support dictatorships in nations it regards as friends, while believing we can impose democracy on vanquished enemies at the barrel of a gun." "We cannot defeat fear with fear. Fear is terrorism's most powerful weapon. If we let ourselves be ruled by our imaginings of what "might" happen, we become instruments - willing or unwilling subjects - of "fear's empire.""--Jacket In terrorism's shadow, the United States today is torn between the temptation to reassert its natural right to independence (whether expressed as splendid isolation or unilateralist intervention) and the imperative to risk new and experimental forms of international cooperation. Benjamin R. Barber lambasts the Bush administration's attempt to fight fear with fear in the age of terrorism, advocating instead an America that promotes co-operation, multilateralism, international law and pooled sovereignty. Offers a detailed critique of the Bush administration's foreign policy, including arguments about the imposition of democracy on foreign nations and hypocritical actions by America