The New Mandarins of American Power

The Bush Administration's Plans for the World

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by Alex Callinicos

Polity Press

Due/Published March 2004, 176 pages, paper

ISBN 0745632750

American power has become the dominant issue in world politics. The Anglo-American conquest of Iraq has reinforced growing fears that the United States under George W. Bush is determined to use the military might of the Pentagon to impose its will.

In this book, Alex Callinicos explores the real meaning of the Bush Doctrine. He examines the rhetorical justifications of the 'war on terrorism' and analyses the strategy of the Republican neoconservatives who now dominate American foreign policy. Their main aim, he suggests, is less to combat terrorism than to use US military supremacy to intimidate and discipline potential competitors. This is the latest episode, Callinicos argues, in the long history of capitalist imperialism. The neoconservative 'Project for the New American Century' seeks to perpetuate the global domination of US-style neoliberal capitalism: it can only be effectively resisted once this is understood.

Review

In this concise and razor-sharp analysis of current U.S. foreign policy, Alex Callinicos, professor of Politics at the University of York, deconstructs the logic and rhetoric behind the Bush Doctrine. Callinicos argues that George W. Bush has used the war on terrorism to impose the will of the United States on the rest of the world and to intimidate any potential competitors. He exposes the ways in which Bush and his neo-conservative advisors have used the threat of terrorism to justify aggressive actions in Iraq and other parts of the world. This new stance in global politics is aimed at protecting U.S. political and economic interests in the Middle East and spreading neoliberal capitalism throughout the world. Beyond examining the motivations behind the Bush Doctrine, Callinicos explores how U.S. policy is viewed by other governments and by world opinion. By looking more closely at the Bush Doctrine and the ideas of neo-conservatives such as Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, and Paul Wolfkowitz, Callinicos offers an impassioned, timely, and thoughtful critique of current U.S. policy.

Noam Chomsky writes, “Deeply informed, balanced, and full of insights, this perceptive inquiry explores the rational basis for the aggressive unilateralism of the Bush administration that has frightened much of the world, arguing plausibly that it ‘is based on a largely accurate reading of the long-term economic and geopolitical threats facing U.S. capitalism’. It more than fulfills its goal of contributing to ‘an understanding of the strange and frightening world that is taking shape.”