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The Neo Conservatives: who are they?
By : Ezzeddine Ben Othman
Main theoreticians of the Neo-conservatives
Coming soon
The dominant dogma and political doctrine of today’s USA government is the Neo Conservatism. What is it?
This political doctrine is associated with the Neo Conservatives, who say they have led a war of ideas in this post cold war era, and who have won this war. It is a political movement of the Extreme Right.
Neo conservatives aim at changing the world in the image of the USA. They say they distinguish themselves by moral criteria. They endorse the fundamentalist ideology of the extreme Christian right wing. They identify themselves by these three slogans: continuous struggle, power and determination. They say a world in the image of the USA will be a better world. To achieve this they have to impose themselves on the rest of the world, and impose democracy and peace.
The most surprising thing in this is that Neo Conservatism draws some elements of its thought from Marxism. Among these elements the Permanent War, which parallels that of Trotsky’s The Permanent Revolution. Another element is the idea of an elite directing the masses, in other words a party that has the truth that the masses haven’t.
When Georges W. Bush declares: “those who aren’t with us are against us”, this takes us back to Lenin. The idea of Preemptive War comes from there, from Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution.
War on terror flattered the collective American ego, and the Neo Conservatives fascinated the masses with the American Hegemony in the service of Universal Freedom. Up to them “soft power” is useless.
Changing the geopolitics of the Middle East is based on a policy characterized by the following:
1) Have access to and control of world resources.
2) Combat terrorists who threaten the Middle East regimes.
3) Curb nuclear proliferation.
4) Act unilaterally, without UN or allies.
Neo Conservatism developed in the 70s up to the mid 90s by intellectuals belonging to the Democratic Party, who thought that US foreign policy was soft vis-à-vis USSR. They first gained power with President Reagan. Neo Conservatives are convinced of their universal values, and think that they have a “divine Mission” to “democratize” and “civilize” the world. All this is combined with power and supremacy.
For them, the new world order should repose on the US strategic supremacy, and therefore on the unparalleled American military power. The notion of “preemptive” war was made official in 2002, and put into practice with the war on Iraq. This put an end to the previous notion of determent.
The overthrowing of Saddam Hussein is only a step towards bringing those rogue states back to the control of the USA.
Unilateral Action and Use of Force:
The doctrine of the Neo Conservatives was modeled by “the think tanks”, such as some foundations and research centers: American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Defense Policy Board for the New Century…The radical ideas of these think tanks constitute the ideological basis for most of the administration, who call themselves the “Falcons”: Dick Chenet, Runsfield, etc.
In the heart of the Neo Conservatives ideology, two main concepts:
1) International organizations and institutions such as UN and NATO should be in the service of the USA, otherwise the US should act on their own, UNILATERALLY.
2) The US foreign policy should be dominated by force. No “soft power” anymore.
The first concept put the USA in contradiction, since it is asking countries to respect international legitimacy and treaties, while these are being undermined by the US itself.
In regards of human rights the US is contradictory too, since they don’t want to agree about an International Court of Justice, while they talk about repression, breaches of human rights etc…
The second concept made the use of force not as the last means but as the main medium to attain objectives. Diplomacy doesn’t work anymore, up to them.
Neo Conservatives then chose to be outside the International legality, while urging the others to conform to it!
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