The Case for Neo-Colonialism

I have felt for a long time that Bush and Co. are a radical administration (led probably by Paul Wolfowitz). Whether they frighten you or inspire you it is important to try to understand the larger theoretical foundations of their philosophy. This article is a good start I think.

I once read that Neo-conservatism is founded on the notion of the ethical use of power. I must admit I find this to be a far more attractive notion than the typical liberal attitude which shuns power, but both are dangerous when taken to extremes (yay moderates!). The following quote is more easily understood in context of the article:

The foxes of the world include the present governments of Germany, France and once plucky little Belgium, as well as a handful of malcontents including China and Russia (former hedgehogs whose one big thing was proved wrong). The hedgehogs today include the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain, India, Mexico, Israel and Japan. And it is worth emphasising the central point of Robert Kagan’s new book Of Paradise and Power: that the foxish ideology developed in the UN and the EU can only exist because the hedgehog exists, in the form of the US security guarantee. As Kagan puts it, by "manning the walls of Europe’s post-modern world order ...American power made it possible for Europeans to believe that power was no longer important". American power, not European multilateralism, has kept the peace, and allowed the EU and the UN to survive and prosper to the point where they now pose a challenge of moral leadership to the US itself.

This is an essential point I think.