(no subject)
watched fukuyama on the daily show. besides being sorely disappointed in jon for conflating the total opposites of the monroe doctrine and the bush doctrine (non-intervention in affairs outside the hemisphere as opposed to FIERCE intervention anywhere in the world), i was struck by fukuyama's dropping of the term "benevolent global hegemony" without much follow-up. the idea of benevolent hegemony as expressed by kristol and kagan (and i should REALLY buy "present dangers") is based in a deeply felt nationalism and the idea of american exceptionalism. what is it about america, the circumstances of its creation and what it thus supposedly stands for, that makes neocons feel that we have not just a moral duty but the unquestionable good intentions to impose our will? i cannot disagree with the idea that promoting democracy is in america's strategic interest. of course it is, and it's the one point that liberal internationalists and neocons can agree with in opposition to realists. but it's the execution of that promotion that becomes the sticking point. do they mean that everything america does is inevitably in the best interest of the world; our intentions in promoting democracy are unassailable simply because We Are America? or is it more that promoting democracy will strengthen america, and it's in the world's best interest to have a strong, unipolar america, because We Are America and will inevitably be "benevolent hegemons"? it's a very circular argument and one that is going to be hard for me to lay out clearly, if only because i find their central argument, the inherent good intentions of american foreign policy, is so completely without logic. a country is not inherently good or evil. a country is only as effective in the world as its leaders, and the philosophy those leaders live by. is the rest of the world supposed to sit back and accept as rationale the neocons saying "trust us, we're americans, we have your best interests at heart"? american voters decide on a government, but then the rest of the world has to live with the decisions that government makes? how is that democracy?