Geopolitics, Empire and the Bush Doctrine

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Geopolitics, Empire and the Bush Doctrine

• Simon Dalby
• Carleton University
• www.carleton.ca/sdalby

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Ages of Geopolitics

• Civilizational (1825-1875)
• European Dominance
• Naturalized (1875-1945)
• "Darwinist" competition
• Ideological (1945-1990)
• Cold War Duality
• Globalization (1990- )
• (New) Imperialism?

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"New World Order - 1991"

• George Bush Sr., Cheney, Wolfowitz etc
• War on Iraq - 1991
• Pre-eminence - Defense Guidance 1994-99
• "We won" the cold war
• Never again be vulnerable
• Dissuade competition
• RMA/Strategic superiority
• Pax Americana

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"Globalized" Violence in 1990s

• End of Bloc divisions
• U.N./Territorial Covenant? (Gulf War)
• New wars
• Somalia, Bosnia, Sierre Leone, Kosovo, East Timor
  .
• Drug wars
• Terrorism
• "Ecowars"

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The "Bush" Doctrine

• Deterrence no longer works
• With "us" or with the terrorists
• "Rogue" states/ "axis of evil"
• "Exercising power without conquest"
• Pre-eminence
• Pre-emption
• "Prevention"
• "Global War on Terror"

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"Calling 911"

• "Global" terror not global at all
• Saudi radicals - Bin Laden etc.
• Land of the two holy places/infidels
• US/911 as horizontal escalation
• Imperial centre and regional rulers
• Saudi Arabia and oil/Resource Wars
• Analogy with Rome?

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Defense Strategy 2005

• While the security threats of the 20th century
  arose from powerful states that embarked on
  aggressive courses, the key dimension of the 21st
  century globalization and the potential
  proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
  mean great dangers may arise from relatively weak
  states and ungoverned areas. (p. 1.)

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Defense Strategy 2005

• America is a nation at war
• Strategic Objectives
• Secure US for direct attack (extremists, WMD)
• Secure strategic access, freedom of action
• Strengthen alliances and partnerships
• Establish favorable security conditions

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Defense Strategy 2005

• Mature and Emerging Challenges
• Traditional
• Irregular
• Catastrophic (WMD)
• Disruptive (cyber weapons, space etc.)

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Defense Strategy 2005

• Accomplish Objectives
• Assure allies and friends
• Dissuade potential adversaries
• (developing our own key military advantages)
• Deter aggression and counter coercion
• (rapidly deployable forces resolve conflicts
  decisively on favorable terms
• Defeat adversaries
• (at the time, place, and in the manner of our
  choosing)

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Defense Strategy 2005, Forces

• Defend the US Homeland
• Operate in four forward regions
• Europe
• Northeast Asia
• East Asian Littoral
• Middle East Southwest Asia
• Swiftly Defeat Adversaries
• Conduct lesser contingencies

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2003
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Defense Strategy 2005, Geography

• Facilities
• Main Operating Bases
• Forward Operating Sites
• Cooperative Security Locations
• Global Sourcing and Surge
• Combatant commanders dont own units
• Legal Arrangements (ICC exempt!)

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Barnett's "Core" and "Gap"

• Globalization inevitable
• American lead program
• Economic freedom
• "Disconnection" the enemy
• Forcible regime change
• Strategy of "Shrinking the Gap"
• Leviathan forces
• System administrators/peacekeepers

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The Pentagon's New Map
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Empire!

• Imperialism as denunciation
• Mann Incoherent Empire
• Rome analogy Calling 911
• Rome, Britain and now US
• Ferguson/ Empire Collossus
• Hardt and Negri Empire Multitude
• Globalization and Sovereignty
• Double exception

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Empire of Disorder?
This power which refused to conquer the world,
only seeks to fill its own pockets. We are
confronted with a global power that takes
infinitely varied local forms while refusing to
think of local variety except in terms of
temporal uniformity and it succeeds thanks to
its ability to establish norms, not to conquer.
It is now trying to sustain this unconquered
empire by shirking the requirements that
Machiavelli outlined the obligation to enrich
the conquered peoples as much as the
conquerors. (Alain Joxe, Empire of Disorder 2002
p. 81)
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Empire of Disorder?

• US military strategy
• Supremacy and preemption doctrine
• War on terrorism
• US policing/drug wars
• Rule without conquest
• International economic institutions
• Resource flow security?

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Rome and America?

• Grain/ petroleum
• Pax/ justice/ order
• Legions and garrisons
• Militarised culture
• Hegemony?
• Civilisation and salvation
• Which religious analogy?

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Britain and America?

• Ferguson historical comparisons?
• Navy and global trade?
• Finance capital?
• Industrial production?
• Communications telegraph vs. internet?
• India?
• Singapore?
• Canada?
• Australia?

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Current Research Questions

• How does Bush Doctrine play in
• India
• Australia
• Canada
• Singapore
• Implicit and explicit geopolitical
  specifications?
• Military role in globalization?
• Elucidation of politics of Empire

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Geopolitics, Empire and the Bush Doctrine

• Simon Dalby
• Carleton University
• www.carleton.ca/sdalby