Imperial Entropy... Collapse of the American Empire

Imperial Entropy
Collapse of the American Empire
By KIRKPATRICK SALE

It is quite ironic: only a decade or so after the idea of the United States as an imperial power came to be accepted by both right and left, and people were actually able to talk openly about an American empire, it is showing multiple signs of its inability to continue. And indeed it is now possible to contemplate, and openly speculate about, its collapse.

The neocons in power in Washington these days, those who were delighted to talk about America as the sole empire in the world following the Soviet disintegration, will of course refuse to believe in any such collapse, just as they ignore the realities of the imperial war in Iraq. But I think it behooves us to examine seriously the ways in which the U.S. system is so drastically imperiling itself that it will cause not only the collapse of its worldwide empire but drastically alter the nation itself on the domestic front.

All empires collapse eventually: Akkad, Sumeria, Babylonia, Ninevah, Assyria, Persia, Macedonia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, Mali, Songhai, Mongonl, Tokugawaw, Gupta, Khmer, Hapbsburg, Inca, Aztec, Spanish, Dutch, Ottoman, Austrian, French, British, Soviet, you name them, they all fell, and most within a few hundred years. The reasons are not really complex. An empire is a kind of state system that inevitably makes the same mistakes simply by the nature of its imperial structure and inevitably fails because of its size, complexity, territorial reach, stratification, heterogeneity, domination, hierarchy, and inequalities.

In my reading of the history of empires, I have come up with four reasons that almost always explain their collapse. (Jared Diamond's new book Collapse also has a list of reasons for societal collapse, slightly overlapping, but he is talking about systems other than empires.) Let me set them out, largely in reference to the present American empire.

First, environmental degradation. Empires always end by destroying the lands and waters they depend upon for survival, largely because they build and farm and grow without limits, and ours is no exception, even if we have yet to experience the worst of our assault on nature. Science is in agreement that all important ecological indicators are in decline and have been for decades: erosion of topsoils and beaches, overfishing, deforestation, freshwater and aquifer depletion, pollution of water, soil, air, and food, soil salinization, overpopulation , overconsumption, depletion of oil and minerals, introduction of new diseases and invigoration of old ones, extreme weather, melting icecaps and rising sealevels, species extinctions, and excessive human overuse of the earth's photosynthetic capacity. As the Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson has said, after lengthy examination of human impact on the earth, our "ecological footprint is already too large for the planet to sustain, and it is getting larger." A Defense Department study last year predicted "abrupt climate change," likely to occur within a decade, will lead to "catastrophic" shortages of water and energy, endemic "disruption and conflict," warfare that "would define human life," and a "significant drop" in the planet's ability to sustain its present population. End of empire for sure, maybe end of civilization

http://www.counterpunch.com/sale02222005.html

thanks for putting it up. Jared Diamond's new book "Collapse" referenced in the article looks like it would be interesting as well.

(I know our own American Empire's collapse is probably nigh, so maybe I'll just live it instead of reading about it.)

and yes the collapse is comming faster than people expect

Look at capitalism in the late 19th century. It was ready to collapse but legislation like progressive income tax, unions, and war saved it. During the depression, America touched socialism but still capitalism thrived due to good management by Democrats and war.

Now the excesses of the wealthy are bringing us close again. This time through a century of knowledge, the republcans have convinced many to drink the Kool-aid. Hopefully war won't by tried as a saviour this time.

Before things get really bad, Americans may once again call on the pragmatic Democrats to rescue our nation from this foolishness.

Having lived through the doom and gloom of the 70's, I appreciate this article and Diamond's book, but as everyone can see, that doom never happend. Yet.

A fine book, seminal thinking.
Hadn't seen him lately, thanks for the post.
:thumbsup:

and be the best place in the world for ideas ... that is if you can get rid of the ***holes in power. I mean I wonder how many foreign national students are going to go to Europe or elsewhere to study because of the crew that is in power now.

Anyone with half a brain is going to want to be in a place where "good information" is promoted ahead of "bad information". I guess Bush doesn't want 'fancy pants students' from all over the world. But when you get rid of him - you will be forgiven and still have the greatest concentrations of wonderful universities.

So in the information age... I am guessing that it will be more important to have the Bill Gates of the world than the Oil barons. You just have to make the right choice. And we all know Americans will once they get rid of the most hated man in the world.

for posting this article. CounterPunch is my favorite web site, without a doubt. I voraciously read almost every article on their site.

I like CounterPunch because it's unaligned - they show no favoritism to Democrats, and certainly not Rat-publicans. More often than not, they're critical of the Dems. But I don't care. I want to know the truth, and I love getting the unbiased facts.

this is an excellent read.

I can't find any flaws in the logic or analysis at all.