[DOWNLOAD] "Perpetual war Within the State of Exception (Nationalism and Global war)" by Arena Journal # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Perpetual war Within the State of Exception (Nationalism and Global war)
- Author : Arena Journal
- Release Date : January 01, 2003
- Genre: Religion & Spirituality,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 226 KB
Description
The implications of the Iraq war extend well beyond its borders. The construction of a new geopolitical framework resulting in the occupation of Iraq has legitimized certain forms of behaviour and patterns of understanding, and created a set of conditions that work to collapse any distinction between war and peace. The notion of perpetual war seems difficult to imagine for many people (though much less so for those in the underdeveloped world). However, a combination of political, economic and technological factors are leading us towards a state where civilian populations are permanently militarized, where the gap between war and peace collapses, and where peace as a mode of being distinct in its own right seems impossible to constitute. Undoubtedly the actions of the current US administration and its allies directly contribute to this situation. The aggressive uni-lateralism of the United States--not just in the pre-emptive war on Iraq and the threats of similar actions in Iran and Syria--but in relation to the Kyoto treaty on the environment and the International Criminal Court, amounts to a wholesale rejection of global governance. This in itself creates the possibility for continual war because the structural causes of the war in Iraq--and of global terrorism itself--have not been addressed. Future wars will be fought over declining natural resources, exacerbated by rising levels of unsustainable consumption. The break-up of the Soviet bloc has allowed for the possible dissemination of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The talking up of a new missile defence shield severs any agreement to reduce the proliferation of nuclear weapons. While human rights abuses under dictatorships have not gone away with the war on terror. (1) It is a mistake, however, to simply claim that this heightened militarization is a result of neo-conservative zeal. Instead, a wider cultural shift is taking place, a shift inimical to any notion of sustainable peace. Essential to this shift is the structural impact of the global neo-liberal economy. As John Hinkson has observed, the postmodern economy marks a broad shift in values, culture and the social realm as much as any transformation in the market. (2) The social transformation enabled through the postmodern economy creates the conditions whereby citizens come to accept the idea of a perpetual war conducted in order to secure their freedom--a freedom increasingly defined in terms of the market. In the words of Christian Marazzi, 'War is the continuation of the new economy by other means'. (3)