Research Catalog

Who speaks for America? : why democracy matters in foreign policy

Title
Who speaks for America? : why democracy matters in foreign policy / Eric Alterman.
Author
Alterman, Eric.
Publication
Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1998.

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TextRequest in advance E183.7 .A45 1998Off-site

Details

Description
ix, 244 pages; 24 cm
Summary
  • Journalist and historian Eric Alterman argues that the vast majority of Americans have virtually no voice in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. With policymakers answerable only to a small coterie of self-appointed experts, corporate lobbyists, self-interested parties, and the elite media, the U.S. foreign policy operates not as the instrument of a democracy, but of a "pseudo-democracy": a political system with the trappings of democratic checks and balances but with little of their content.
  • This failure of American democracy is all the more troubling, Alterman charges, now that the Cold War is over and the era of global capital has replaced it. Americans' stake in so-called foreign policy issues from trade to global warming is greater than ever. Yet the current system serves to mute their voices and ignore their concerns. Alterman concludes with a series of challenging proposals for reforms designed to create a truly democratic U.S. foreign policy.
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-230) and index.
Contents
Introduction: Foreign Policy for the Few -- Sect. I. The Rise and Fall of a Liberal Republic: A Short History. 1. Virtue, Commerce, and Perpetual Motion. 2. Slouching toward Rome. 3. Present Dangers -- Sect. II. The Anatomy of Pseudodemocracy. 4. The New World Order: Trading Away Democracy. 5. Thriving on Chaos: Foreign Policymaking and Special-Interest Manipulation. 6. The Media Cacophony: Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens. Conclusion: Reviving the Liberal Republic: An Immodest Proposal -- Appendix: A Democratic Foreign Policy Today.
ISBN
0801435749 (cloth : alk. paper)
LCCN
98030148
OCLC
ocm39498533
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries