Chomsky’s Failed States Succeeds

A Book Review of Failed States by Noam Chomsky

     Noam Chomsky is often regarded as “arguably the most important intellectual alive.” What the MIT linguistics professor sometimes points out, however, is that this citation is actually the excerpted caveat of a longer passage; the quoted reviewer is critical of Chomsky for writing such incensing, establishment-critical books despite having considerable command of political thought. Chomsky notes that if his writings were not controversial he would be concerned about the degree of their relevance.
     Such concern is not yet necessary, however. Chomsky’s most recent book, Failed States is among his most focused. It reads succinctly and is filled with the blistering logic and exhaustive research the author has become known for over the past thirty-seven years since American Power and the New Mandarins. Citing gross abuse of United States military power in international affairs and a growing “democracy deficit” within the US itself, Chomsky unwaveringly argues that America is becoming a “failed state”—one that is no longer able to guarantee the safety of its citizens or honor the electoral sentiments they express through the channels of democratic government.
     With over fifty books on the subject of politics to his name, Chomsky has cut himself a powerful position in the realm of debate on global affairs: having already so broadly covered topics given only briefly mention in Failed States (the US government’s bloody history of intervention with Latin America, the unparalleled atrocities of South Vietnam, omitted media coverage of the genocide in East Timor), Chomsky is able to quickly identify and footnote these topics to keep the scope of his most recent book trained solely on the arguments fundamental to his thesis. Central to this is the 2003-present US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, which Chomsky identifies as being particularly problematic since domestic support continues eroding to nearly the marginal level expressed by the international community since the outset of the invasion.
     On a side note, Chomsky is to be commended for remaining substantive in his rhetorical technique. All too often political dissidents undercut their policy debate with personal critique (generally humor-laden) toward the Bush Administration. This proves problematic most nearly because the proverbial Michael Moores and Al Frankens of the world have come to embody the voices of opposition to established power (which is most unfortunate because they dwell far longer on the comedic emphasis of George W. Bush’s flummoxing persona than on the harrowing policy decisions he marshals from his appointed officials). That is not to say, however, that the casual reader won’t relish in Chomsky’s wry sense of intellectual humor (which, at one point, calls attention to the apparent plagiarism Bush’s speechwriters regularly make of children’s fairy tales). Failed States unflinchingly reminds us of “apocalypse soon” and points toward the decreasing importance of US elections as voters have little notion of elected official’s stances on issues (most notably the Kyoto Protocol—which the overwhelming majority of Bush voters support despite Bush’s withdrawal from the international treaty).
     Failed States is vintage Chomsky—filled with everything we’ve come to expect of the United States’ leading thinker on US foreign policy. In his characteristic style, Chomsky cites facts plainly available for anyone who’s been paying attention and asks, “Why hasn’t a single eyebrow been raised?” Chomsky demystifies international affairs and challenges readers to take action in their own communities to become informed and active citizens. He presents a sobering view of the world that, he insinuates, is quite visible to those who take notice. States identifies the US government’s insistent assertions of exceptionalism to international law and universal moral truisms and ask how much longer American citizens are willing to let these glibly-masked doctrines of torture, war profiteering, corporate cronyism, and public deceit go unchallenged. “Donald Rumsfeld is not my audience” Chomsky told Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, the American public is.
     There is a reason Chomsky is largely ignored by the mainstream media and a brief survey of his latest book will reveal why: Chomsky uses the last page of his conclusion to outline seven elementary expectations to curb the violence being meted out by the increasingly "failing state" of the US. Upon doing so, he concludes with, "often critics carp at those who 'identify the problems but propose no solution.' This can easily be translated to 'I hear the proposed solution, but I don't like it.'" If you have an interest in becoming informed on the endangered commodities of democracy, human rights, and civilization itself, you will like Failed States.
     Noam Chomsky’s Failed States is available now through Metropolitan Press as part of the American Empire Project.

Danny Ledonne, Adams State College