Powers And Prospects

The renowned linguist and political activist offers penetrating reflections on language, human nature, and foreign policy in this essay collection. From linguistics to the Middle East; foreign affairs to the role of the media; and intellectual responsibility to the situation in East Timor, Noam Chomsky offers a wide-ranging exploration of the issues and ideas that have concerned him most deeply throughout his distinguished career. These essays are drawn from a series of lectures Chomsky gave in Australia in 1995, under the auspices of the East Timor Relief Association. Examining the interplay between language, human nature and foreign policy, Powers and Prospects provides a scathing critique of government policy orthodoxy. Moving beyond criticism of the status quo, Chomsky then outlines other paths that can lead to better understanding and more constructive action.

One of the foremost critics of U.S. foreign policy delivers his insight into the ways that popular activism has led to substantial gains in freedom and justice around the world--and how those gains can be reached in the United States.

Impeccably researched and masterfully written, this book explains how and why humanity is driving itself off the cliff. — Dahr Jamail, author, The End of Ice Weaving together findings from a wide range of disciplines, Power traces how four key elements developed to give humans extraordinary power: tool making ability, language, social complexity, and the ability to harness energy sources ― most significantly, fossil fuels. It asks whether we have, at this point, overpowered natural and social systems, and if we have, what we can do about it. Has Homo sapiens — one species among millions — become powerful enough to threaten a mass extinction and disrupt the Earth's climate? Why have we developed so many ways of oppressing one another? Can we change our relationship with power to avert ecological catastrophe, reduce social inequality, and stave off collapse? These questions — and their answers — will determine our fate.

In This Wide-Ranging Book Noam Chomsky Brings Together His Thoughts On Topics Ranging From Language And Human Nature, To The Middle East Settlement And The Role Of East Timor In The New World Order.

'Powers and Prospects - Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order adds another controversial volume to Chomsky's already tottering pile on language and politics ... This political chapters, by contrast, boil with barely restrained moral outrage and passion ... A powerful section covers the British and Us role is organizing and supporting Suharto's murderous military coup of 1965, which resulted in the slaughter of some 600 000 people...Chomsky presents here a timely review of the western-backed massacres in East Timor ... Chomsky, as ever, remains one of the few people willing to put the true value of all three in their proper perspective' The EcologistFrom East Timor to the Middle East, from the nature of democracy to our place in the natural world, from intellectual politics to the politics of language, Powers and Prospects provides a scathing critique of orthodox views and government policy, and outlines other paths that can lead to better understanding an more constructive action. Chomsky lifts the veil of distortions that conceals the workings of history and social policy, and reveals how the 'new' world order is little more than a remarketing of the same old disorder. His refreshingly clear views of the world and the nature of things are supported by a wealth of detail.

Genre -- the articulation of "kind" -- is one of the oldest and most continuous subjects of theoretical and critical commentary. Yet from Romanticism to postmodernism, the concept of genre has been punched with so many holes that today it hardly seems graspable, let alone viable. By combining theory with dialectical literary histories of three significantly different genres -- tragedy, satire, and the essay -- John Snyder reconstructs genre as the figural deployment of symbolic power. One purpose of this approach is to reconcile the recent dismantling of representational and classificatory genres with the incipient notion in post-Althusser Marxism that genre is the crucial mediation between history and aesthetics. Snyder extends certain implications of Aristotle, Benjamin, Bakhtin, Foucault, and Serres. He also offers the first antisystem yet comprehensive genre theory to serve as a fully distinct alternate to Frye's formalist and Genette's structuralist schemes. Finally, Snyder's theory of genre as power opens a way to a fundamentally new theory of literature itself: that aesthetic language deployed as power organizes itself as generic intervention. Three historically dynamic configurations establish the range of all possible genres -- tragedy as power politically deployed as mimesis, satire as power rationally deployed as rhetoric, and the essay as power textually deployed as constative rhetoric. Specific analyses developing this important new theory cover a broad spectrum of literature, from classical to contemporary. Other genres, different media, and a variety of subgenres and modes political and religious -- all acquire fresh significance from the elaborations of Snyder's three selected genres.

The turn of the century has seen the US greatly enhance its military supremacy across the world. It has also played a key role in shaping the international economic order. More recently, however, its world-wide economic domination has started to diminish as other regions and countries have become globally important players. Simon Bromley brings a fresh perspective to these issues, arguing that it is as yet unclear whether the US will be capable of rising to the challenges posed by the new world order. He carefully examines the intricacies of these debates including the American ideology of a liberal international order and the relation of this to the Bush doctrine; US power in the transatlantic arena and US-European integration in relation to the EU and NATO; and the geo-politics of oil. He looks at a range of challenges to US dominance, including the weakening of the dollar; the rapid growth and industrialization of Asia; and the strengths and weaknesses of Bush's foreign policy. This book is set to spark debate amongst students and scholars of international politics, as well as appealing to anyone interested in the changing shape of the international order.

The North is an increasingly important focal point of public policy. The impact of climate change on the environment and community life underlines the urgent need for measures to slow this trend and facilitate adaptation to uncertain conditions. International events have underlined the importance of safeguarding Canada's sovereignty in its Arctic regions, and the federal government has announced a series of measures to further this objective. The result of a wide-ranging IRPP research program, this multidisciplinary volume explores the following themes: Canada in the circumpolar world - environmental, scientific and foreign-policy dimensions; First Nations, Inuit and public governance; economic development - enterprise, sustainable development and communities; sustaining people - education and human capital; and developing a northern policy for the future. Public policy specialists review the implications of the unprecedented changes in governance that have taken place in the three territories and in Aboriginal communities in northern Quebec and Labrador over the past three decades and analyze challenges that must be faced in order to strengthen economic development and quality of life for northern residents. Contributions from Inuit and First Nations leaders, former territorial premiers, and Aboriginal youth activists add further depth and perspective.Contributorsinclude Frances Abele, Elaine Alexie, George Berthe, George Braden, Michael Bravo, Thomas J. Courchene, Nellie Cournoyea, Anne Crawford, Gordon Erlandson, James Feehan, Terry Fenge, Violet Ford, Danny Gaudet, Minnie Grey, Franklyn Griffiths, Udloriak Hanson, Jack Hicks, Tom Hoefer, Rob Huebert, Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, Armand MacKenzie, Laura MacKenzie, Douglas McArthur, Stephen Mills, Nathan Obed, Aynslie Ogden, Tony Penikett, Hanne Petersen, Greg Poelzer, Thierry Rodon, F. Leslie Seidle, Mary Simon, France St-Hilaire, Richard Van Loon, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Graham White, and John B. Zoe