Plus ca change: oligarchic isomorphism in the 'politics of fear'

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2009

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Kouzmin, A.
Thorne, K.

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Conference paper

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ISA-ABRI Conference 2009: Diversity and Inequality in World Politics, 2009, pp.1-19

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ISA-ABRI Conference 2009: Diversity and Inequality in World Politics (22 Jul 2009 : Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)

Abstract

This paper examines diachronic, oligarchic isomorphism in responses to 9/11 within a convergent world by comparing the 'Politics of Fear' being practised within Stalinist - Russian and McCarthyist - US praxis. The immediate future of Anglo-American democratic hubris, threats to civil society and oligarchic threats to democratic praxis are canvassed. This paper attempts to explain why US foreign policies have remained largely unchanged since the end of World War II despite changes in partisan control of the government, the end of the Cold War, shifts in alliances, and economic globalization. Adducing the incipient contours of 20th Century imperialism cutting across academic inquiry from organizational, institutional and state levels, this paper examines how Soviet/American policy isomorphism staged what emerges in the 21st century as the 'holographic state'. This paper also raises the question as to whether The USA Patriot Acts 2001/2006, sanctioned by the US Congress, are examples of abuse of power. In the very least, any democratically-inclined White-House occupant in 2009 would need to commit to repealing these repressive, and counter-productive, Acts.

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