The Next Big Idea ...

[Dave Monroe]

Think I mentioned ...

Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri.  Empire.
   Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2000.

A while back here.  From Emily Eakin, "What Is The
Next Big Idea? Buzz Is Growing for 'Empire,'" New York
Times, Saturday, July 7th, 2001 ...

"Globalization isn't simply the latest phase in the
history of imperialism and nation-states, the authors
declare. It's something radically new. Where other
scholars and the media depict countries vying for
control of world markets, Mr. Hardt and Mr. Negri
instead discern a new political system and a new form
of power taking root. They call it Empire.

"Unlike historical empires, however, this one has no
emperor, no geographic capital and no single seat of
power. In fact, given the authors' abstruse
formulation, it's almost easier to say what Empire
isn't than what it is: a fluid, infinitely expanding
and highly organized system that encompasses the
world's entire population. It's a system that no one
person, corporation or country can control. (It's also
apparently still under construction. One hallmark of
Empire is 'supranational organisms,' few of which seem
to exist yet. The authors regard the United Nations,
for example, as a precursor of a 'real supranational
center.')

"More surprising still, Empire is good news: it's
potentially the most democratic political system to
hit the face of the earth. As Mr. Hardt puts it, 'The
thing we call Empire is actually an enormous
historical improvement over the international system
and imperialism.' The reason? Because power under
Empire is  widely dispersed, so presumably just about
anyone could affect its course.

"'Empire creates a greater potential for revolution
than did the modern regimes of power,' the authors
write, 'because it presents us, alongside the machine
of command, with an alternative: the set of all the
exploited and the subjugated, a multitude that is
directly opposed to Empire, with no mediation between
them.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/07/arts/07IDEA.html

Not so sure about those latter coupla paragpraphs
there, but ... okay, gotta catch up here ...

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