What seems to me the great strength of Pankaj Mishra's new book is its demonstration that the atrocities of imperial conquest and rule prefigured the horrors of the European wars of the twentieth century and later wars of conquest as well.
Manent insists that if political leaders don’t lead society, we will have a society that isn’t led by political leaders. So what?
Many observers of international affairs assume that larger, more populous states are necessarily more powerful. But the reality is wealth and economic development are the most critical factors in securing true military power.
"These days most people tend to equate freedom with the possession of inalienable individual rights, rights that demarcate a private sphere no government may infringe on. But has this always been the case?"
Manent insists that if political leaders don’t lead society, we will have a society that isn’t led by political leaders. So what?
Fascism is the system of government that cartelizes the private sector, centrally plans the economy, exalts the police state, denies fundamental liberties to individuals, and makes the executive state the unlimited master of society.
The gravest crimes in the state's lexicon are almost invariably not invasions of private person or property, but dangers to the state itself: treason, desertion, insurrection, etc. The state does not exist to protect its citizens, but to protect itself.
"These days most people tend to equate freedom with the possession of inalienable individual rights, rights that demarcate a private sphere no government may infringe on. But has this always been the case?"
The Canadian Liberal Party began as a party of classical liberalism, radically supportive of freedom and free markets. But those days are long over.
The Nuremberg prosecutors wanted to indict the Nazis on trial for crimes, but at the same time they wanted to preserve the dogma that the modern European nation-state is the culmination of moral progress. This created a conundrum.
