Deterring Democracy

by Noam Chomsky

In this highly praised and widely debated book, America's leading dissident intellectual offers a revelatory portrait of the American empire and the danger it poses for democracy, both at home and abroad. Chomsky details the major shift in global politics and economic potency and reveals the potentially catastrophic consequences of this new imbalance.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Society, American

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chomsky Shocker!!!

Chomsky just loooooves pointing out the hidden agendas of the New York Times, and showing how imperialistic US support hinders democracy and sometimes even helps perpetuate genocide in other parts of the world. Yeah, yeah, that's what Chomsky does, and that's great; but did you know that according to the US Labor Party (one of Lyndon LaRouche's apparently ever changing groups he uses to try to spread the 'truth' of things like Aristotleanism and how it's just fucking with us all (huh? oh why didn't I just read the magazines today instead of processing them), and that he uses for his never-ending presidential campaigns), in one of their 'fact' magazines, (issue name Carter (that would be Jimmy, this was from like 1978) and the Global Terrorists) apparently Chomsky is a Linguist from MIT, with high government clearance (yep HIGH GOVERNMENT CLEARANCE!!!!). What does Mr. Chomsky do with this kind of Government clearance? Why does the most outspoken critic of US foreign policy for the past forty years have the kind of information that would allow him to write books from this kind of information instead of just taking endless potshots at the New York Times? He has this clearance because...... ready? Are you sure you are ready for this? He's part of a secret government project to made radical zombies who will protest things like nuclear power!!! to reiterate, Chomsky makes zombies. Everything else, like this book and everything you know about Chomsky is bullshit. Really he has used his Linguist Research into the hard determinism of the human brain as a language enabling something or other (I'm not a linguist, I don't even know if what I just wrote is exactly correct) in order to turn regular people like you and me into ZOMBIES!!!! Maybe he doesn't mean literal zombies, but the article uses the term twice, so I like to think that Chomsky really made ZOMBIES!!!! With research about language acquisition.

Just when I think the world is getting boring I realize that there are all kinds of things that I don't know, like the Chomsky zombies of the late 1970's. Now why didn't the New York Times cover that story?

[Shad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not the smartest guy in the world but I have good comprehension skills. Even so, Chomsky can be hard to read. He has lots of information and not all of it is presented in a linear fashion. His books are dense and often dry. I love this mind, though, and that's why I keep reading his books.

They are never a quick read. I plan on spending lots of time to stop, think and look up words(!). I think this book is a great example of Chomsky at his best. It's a bit dated here in 2010 but still has lots of relevance for today's world. Def worth the time.

[Kevin Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Chomsky book and it's one of the most influential things I ever read. It's what really got me started reading about radical critiques of imperialism and U.S. foreign policy. The footnotes alone led me to a lot of other indispensible writers on the same subject like Gabriel Kolko (The Politics of War) and William Blum (Killing Hope).

[Yazeed AlMogren · Rating 3 out of 5]

يُعري المفكر اليساري نعوم تشومسكي الولايات المتحدة سياسيًا وزعمها بنشر الديمقراطية والحرية في دول العالم، الكتاب موثق بالمصادر ومليء بالمعلومات ومناسب لمن أراد إجراء بحوث أو قراءة بيانات معمقة عن سياسات الولايات المتحدة المنهاضة للديمقراطية، ترجمة نسخة دار كنعان لم تكن بالمستوى المطلوب ولم تكن سيئة لتمنعك من قراءة الكتاب

[Foppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, good reference work with lots of shocking examples of how violence is justified and waved away by elites, and how cooperating with local thugs is sold by global thugs. One of the more important points for (white) inhabitants of europe will be to see how they did exactly the same thing in Europe, combating and dispersing (pro-)communist and pro-democratic resistance and organizational forms pretty much as they were liberating Italy from Mussolini/Third Reich, reconstituting the mafia both for use as strike-breakers and to trade drugs, enlisting Nazis like Klaus Barbie and Franz Six to help undermine French and German resistance fighters and union organizers, to help them with Latin-American coup attempts, and so on. (In that vein, see also this two-part mini-lecture by Parenti about the real causes of ww2, which is something Chomsky doesn't touch on.)

4 stars because he only looks at this kind of high-level stuff and media treatment, not at the material and class dimensions of the developments he describes, as a result of which some chapters are *very* slow-moving.

[Pukar Subedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freedom is fine, but within limits.

This tell all book dives deep into the dynamics of power maintained by the United States in a world reeling from the aftermath of the second world war and all that followed.

Brutally honest, cynical and self aware, it exposes the repressive measures that the US has taken to control its neighboring countries and interests. With plenty of citations and commentary to engage the reader, its a great read for anyone interested in studying power, politics and the harsh realities if the modern world

[Paula SF]

Me ha costado bastante leerlo porque no conocía la mayoría de conflictos bélicos a los que se hacen referencia. Pero no va a ser el último libro "largo" que me lea de él porque compartimos muchísimos planteamientos y su escritura me ha resultado distendida a pesar de su profundidad.

"Las futuras generaciones se enfrentarán a problemas bastante distintos en escala y complejidad de cualquiera de los surgidos con anterioridad. La posible destrucción de un entorno físico capaz de sostener la vida humana en condiciones similares a las actuales es uno de los más dramáticos, (...). No es tan obvio que estos problemas tengan una solución. Que la exaltación de la codicia hasta convertirla en el más alto valor humano no es la respuesta es bastante evidente."

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If one must read only one, this is probably the Chomsky text to read regarding general perspectives on US conduct, with numerous examples. Not a catalog in the manner of Blum's Killing Hope, say, but probably the most thorough single Chomsky book (at the time--he may have issued more comprehensive updated versions since this was written).

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although the subject matter was quite interesting, the author's writing style was the epitome of obfuscation. I found it unreadable.

[Ash]

I am reading chapter 12 of this book for a class taught by the man himself, at the University of Arizona. This is just a place to gather my thoughts.

Chomsky overwhelmingly makes the case for soft power in this chapter, by decrying the horrors and hypocrisy of American hard power.

Quotes
P. 378: The guiding principle is clear and straightforward: their terror is terror, and the flimsiest evidence suffices to denounce it and exact retribution upon civilian bystanders who happen to be in the way; our terror, even if far more extreme, is merely statecraft, and therefore does not enter into the discussion of the plague of the modern age.

P. 385: True, when force is lacking and the standard penalties do not suffice, it is necessary to resort to the manufacture of consent. The populations of the Western democracies - or at least, those in a position to defend themselves - are off limits. Others are legitimate objects of repression, and in the Third World, large-scale terror is appropriate, though the liberal conscience adds the qualification that it must be efficacious.

P. 395: Freedom is fine, but within limits .

P. 400: ...the right to freedom of speech in the United States was not established by the First Amendment to the Constitution, but only through dedicated efforts over a long period by the labor movement, the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, and other popular forces. James Madison pointed out that a "parchment barrier" will never suffice to prevent tyranny. Rights are not established by words, but won and sustained by struggle.

P. 401: The courage and dedication of people struggling for freedom, their willingness to confront extreme state terror and violence, are often remarkable.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went through a period during the second half of the George W. Bush administration, where I read a lot of Noam Chomsky. If you're unfamiliar with his critique and worldview, he is certainly worth understanding, and you can't pick up one of his books without seeing the blurb where the NYT calls him one of the most influential thinkers alive or something to that effect.

He is EXTREMELY prolific, and his books often cover the same material again and again. Even though I had taken a break of more than a decade from reading him, picking this book up still felt extremely familiar as he revisits his assessment of US interventions in various Central American nations. Chomsky's style, such as it is, is very hard to parse, and it is often difficult to remember which specific country he is writing about at any given time due to his tendency to jump around.

This book is mostly taken from a series of essays he published in Z Magazine in the 1989 to 1991 time period. The main thing that is of interest is that the final collapse of the Soviet Union requires him to change his analysis, as we begin to consider American power in a unipolar world, where US military power reigns completely supreme, but our economic power is being challenged Germany and Japan (remember this is 1990).

I think these books have great value, and Chomsky has been an essential voice for moral clarity in US foreign relations, but I also wish that instead of putting out two books a year, he would write one every few years and work with a good editor to make it readable and less repetitive.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The end of the Cold War was greeted by the free world with a self congratulatory praise that echoed off the moon and back. And for the average person, the prospect for disarmament and some kind of 'real' peace had become a tangible reality. But the end of The Cold War gave to the American military industrial complex an opportunity and a problem. The opportunity was that without the USSR as a viable deterrent to American foreign aggression, America now had the opportunity to invade other countries at will.

And the problem? The American public, having been fed a steady and successful propaganda about the role of the USSR evil and American benevolence during the Cold War, saw its end as an opportunity to give peace a chance. Thus, in a curious irony, the end of the Cold War threatened to expose to America that they had been misled about that war by their media that had acted in collusion with big business's management of 'their' government. In effect, Americans had been given an opportunity to discover that they had been manipulated by a pervasive and expansive propaganda into giving to their corporate masters their manufactured consent to propagate American hegemony disguised as defending freedom.

It would have most likely been bad for business if the truth of American hegemony actually made it into prime time news. What could the manufacturers do to avoid such a catastrophe and how were America's hegemons going to be able to take advantage of their new freedom and expand in scale and scope their overt and covert invasions; and continue their practices of disrupting fledgling democracies without a solid enemy to justify the military spending in a time of peace? The answer: follow the same media farce as was practiced during the Cold War by the simple manufacture of 'properly' acceptable enemies with the proper implementation of the media supported propaganda. Thus was born, for example, the war on drugs, the farce of Grenada, Nicaragua, and Panama as serious threats to American sovereignty and safety.

The media hypocrisy and outright lying around these wars, and the comparison Chomsky makes to Britain forcing China to buy opium, is chilling. He provides numbers to back up his argument, and citations from business leaders and NSC documents that, if they had been spoken by German SS officers in WWII, would have earned them post war convictions for crimes against humanity.

Speaking of war crimes, it would appear that the USA was one of the biggest war criminals on the planet in the eighties, frequently using their UN veto power to overturn condemnation for their frequent invasions and unprovoked attacks on other countries for the explicit purpose of enriching big American business. News of these votes rarely made it into the news. Or, if they did, it was with complete fabrication as to the vote and what it really meant. Interestingly enough, this kind of behaviour was not new in the media's history of misrepresenting American foreign practices. For example, the non-reporting of the role America played in their support for and re-establishment into positions of capitalist influence many of the pre-war German industrialists that included convicted war criminals. Nor was America's support for pro-Nazi sympathizers in the brutal suppression of democracy in Greece following WWII that resulted in the torture and/or deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the establishment of a brutal dictatorship (p335, 342).

DD is well written, and Chomsky's anger is tempered with a wry kind of humour at just how deluded and delusional the press is about their role in paving the way for American military brutality and unrelenting violation of the UN and the most basic tenets of respect for the rights of others. As always, the footnoting to the references is extensive.

For me, the detailed and somewhat organic way Chomsky writes solidifies the connections between the way the American military functions as the arm of Big Business, and Big Business's function as the manager of the controlled understanding of America's 'generous' role as planetary policeman. That perhaps the planet's greatest violator of the basic tenets of human rights and democracy is lauded by its corporate media as the singular champion of those ideals is nothing short of an astonishing proof that delusion knows no bounds. The level of hypocrisy that the media relays or creates with a straight face cannot be described in a review without the reviewer being seen as a complete idiot.

~~~~~~~
[Interlude: While reading this, there arose a pair of strange synchronicity events I like o call fushgis. Loosely, I understand fushigi as a synchronicity-like thing — click on the link to read my understanding of what it means. To read these 'synchronicity petites', as I have sometimes called them, and some quotations from the book, go to Deterring Democracy & a Pair of fushigis
End of Interlude.]
~~~~~~~
I have included a few citations from DD in my book review blog, egajdbooks. If you are curious, you can read the citations by following the link, 2012.07.01 Deterring Democracy.

Finally, you can read Deterring Democracy on-line by clicking on the link.

[John Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The argument Chomsky puts forth, that American foreign and domestic policy has never prioritized morals but instead prioritized superiority by keeping other nations and countries in line with our own economic and political goals, thus deterring democracy, is a good and necessary one. Indeed, it is not just an argument, but a well-researched book with plenty of evidence from our government itself that doesn't require much interpretation or argumentation.

The research, though, is part of the problem. This is a very long research paper, essentially, and only the most determined reader will still have the stamina to read any of the occasional and subtle arguments that Chomsky still feels necessary around page 250.

[Jotacarlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro que despierta como un puñetazo. Dice con claridad todo lo que siempre hemos sospechado sobre la política exterior de Estados Unidos, pero da datos e informes precisos. EEUU siempre ha intentado destruir la democracia de los países con los que mantenía intereses económicos para evitar que las oligarquías perdieran la libertad de actuar en su propio beneficio, y lo ha hecho de la forma mas cruel posible, mediante la violencia. Si hemos de creer a Chomsky, EEUU es el primero y mas mortífero terrorista del mundo.

[Joel Kleehammer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book in an effort to better understand the works of Noam Chomsky. I've read his ideas in shorter essays and enjoyed them. I thought that because this book came out around the beginning of Operation Desert Storm, it would be interesting to see his views on the Cold War but irrelevant to the modern era, from the Global War on Terror to the countering of China. How wrong was I? His insights into US military and foreign policy carry forward to today. This is truly excellent scholarship.

[Izaz Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

just finished this book and news about chmosky's Epstein connection in the main stream news. We all was suspecious of him but about his commentary of us foreign policy and imperialism we all can agree with.

[Kate Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just under 30 years old and it's incredible how little has changed in the world. Eye opening and depressing in equal measure.

[Owen Tanner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very well researched and factual but pretty dry reading. Probably better as an academic reference than a book to read cover to cover.

[Kenneth Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep - it's pretty damn long.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chock full of information. Learned a lot about the 1990 Nicaraguan election

[Jeffrey Greening · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great then, might be dated now .

[Antonio Hernández Blas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debo confesar que me costo trabajo terminar la lectura del presente libro pero es que Chomsky se desborda haciendo un estudio de la actitud del gobierno estadounidense a partir de la segunda guerra mundial y el problema que le presentó el "mal" (comunismo) ante el "bien" (la civilización occidental-estadounidense) y del como dicho mal podría contaminar al mundo con una "mala interpretación" de lo que es la democracia. La "mala interpretación" no es más que ese populismo-nacionalismo que antepone el bien de los propios países a los intereses de Estados Unidos. En este libro Chomsky hace uso de ese humor que le caracteriza, un tanto negro en mi opinión, pero a su vez reafirma su posicionamiento anarquista al mantener la esperanza del cambio del propio humano.

[Rafael da Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Os EUA com a sua mania de intervir nos outros países a seu bel-prazer acabou criando e promovendo muitas ditaduras na América Latina. E eles ainda tem o cinismo de dizer que lutam pela democracia, assim como dizem lutar contra o Eixo do Mal (Irã, Síria, Coréia do Norte etc).

Uma coisa que as pessoas podem não saber é que muitos dos inimigos atuais foram aliados que cometeram as mesmas barbaridades que cometem hoje, mas naquele tempo eram aliados, logo os EUA faziam vista grossa sobre isso.

Não preciso recomendar, pois Chomsky se auto-recomenda.

[David]

Hugely well-sourced exposé on US (and, to a lesser extent, UK and Israel) - perpetrated shenanigans in Latin America and the middle east, citing newspapers, authors and agencies from all over the world in nearly every paragraph. Justified or not, the constant stream of sarcasm does start to grate by the time you get through half of it. Noam's condemnation of Singapore's leader as a pseudo-fascist tyrant has been proven wrong by history but apart from that it's really just a savoury bit of global criticism

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good starter for people that don't know much about America's foreign policy (such as myself). Even if you don't agree with his politics or interpretations, he at least gives you plenty of reference points for further research (I have dogeared far too many pages in this book) that you aren't likely to find in most accounts of American history. The book can get a bit repetitive in its message and Chomsky's writing isn't exactly thrilling read, but this is definitely worth a look.

[David Soucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can be said about Mr. Chomsky, is he is very thorough in his research such that every chapter is followed with bibliography. He aptly unveils U.S. Governments desire to thwart all democratic policies of many countries. As well as document, and describe how main stream media is actively complicit in promoting the United States foreign policy

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just to drop some clues, I'm pretty sure Chomsky either puts his spoken lectures in to his books, (this one is from back in the day), or he dictated them to someone else. His "writing" style is him talking, so once you crack that, it's easier to absorb. Go listen to him talk on you tube for a bit, and then you'll get it. And he likes to information dump and that's why we love him.

[Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of an honest history of the 'cold war', in its international and domestic aspects. It is also the book where i first began to understand the relationship that the US had with right-wing power in italy.

[Gemma Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading a lot of Chomsky lately and it has had a big effect, especially on my reading of the media. This book details the USA's fight against democracy with especial reference to Latin America. Apalling stuff.Currently feeling impotent rage, but am glad he is here to open my eyes.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Noam Chomsky book i ever read. I was 18 or 19 and it was pretty life-changing. who knew that the same formula of over-throwing a centrist democratically elected government and installing a pro-business dictator could work so well in so many latin american countries?