Obviously the 2008 economic collapse – and the virtual paralysis of either the Bush or Obama administration in effectively addressing it – strongly supports the premise (that the US is on the brink of failed statehood) Chomsky lays out in his 2006 Failed States: the Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. Both Paul Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, and Dr Sam Vaknin, an Israeli-born economic and health policy analyst in Eastern Europe, have laid out similar concerns in some detail.
To make his case that the US is a failed state http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10222009.html), Roberts cites irresponsible squandering of billions of dollars a year on the defacto US occupation of Iraq and an unwinnable war in Afghanistan; massive foreign borrowing and debt creation; virtual collapse of US industrial production; and total failure of federal regulatory agencies to regulate. He points out the inability of Congress to address any of these issues, owing to the “ultra-constipated” movement of federal legislation through the Senate and House – a process that regularly brings US governance to a standstill when appropriation bills become stalled. During these recurring periods of Congressional stalemate, the federal bureaucracy continues by inertia while waiting for new appropriations to be approved.
A Perspective from Eastern Europe
Vaknin, who describes the US as a Semi-Failed state (see http://samvak.tripod.com/failedstate.html), has a somewhat different perspective. According to Vaknin, a Semi-Failed manifests the following five characteristics:
1. It maintains all the appearances of power, legitimacy and control but is actually a “political and societal zombie state,” both in its domination by corruption and cronyism, and in its failure to perform the domestic governing functions expected of a national government. It only continues in power due to the absence of other alternatives.
2. Its citizenry is characteristically disgruntled, hostile and suspicious
3. It’s generally regarded by other countries with derision, fear and abhorrence.
4. It replaces rational reconstruction and policy making at home with Empire building.
5. Social fragmentation occurs as popular and local leaders, backed by angry and rebellious constituents, take matters into their own hands.
Does the US Meet Vakin’s Five Criteria?
I think it’s helpful to examine each of these criteria individually in assessing whether the US qualifies for failed statehood:
- Is the US a zombie state?
The total corruption, by corporate interests, of the US electoral system, as well as Congress and the Presidency, has been well documented and is of major concern across the political spectrum.
As for the inability of the US government to govern, Vaknin, like Roberts, is very concerned about the failure of federal agencies to perform their statutory regulatory function. He cites the inability of the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) to address the catastrophe in New Orleans following Katrina, as well as the failure of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC), and US Treasury to address the banking crisis that caused the economic collapse. He also points out the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) failure to adequately monitor or manage lethal prescription drugs.
Obviously his article was written pre-2010, but the US government failure to prevent or adequately manage the worst environmental catastrophe in world history (the BP oil spill) is obviously another example. A December 1 status report (see http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/) reveals the Earth’s crust under the Gulf has been badly damaged by years of deep-sea drilling. As a result, oil and methane continue to leak through cracks in the sea floor around the blown well.
Example of one of dozens of ongoing seabed leaks
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Yet because the federal government is incapable of addressing the ongoing contamination and potential permanent degradation of the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, and other oceans it connects to, this information is covered up instead.
To be continued with additional, more recent evidence of the breakdown in US domestic governance – as well as discussion of criteria 2-5.
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