The Importance of Legitimacy -- A Lesson From History
From Kissinger's book, Diplomacy:
“Because complexity inhibits flexibility, early choices are especially crucial.”
From Universality to Equilibrium
“Of course, in the end a balance of power always comes about de facto when several states interact.”
“Equilibrium works best if it is buttressed by an agreement on common values. The balance of power inhibits the capacity to overthrow the international order; agreement on shared values inhibits the desire to overthrow the international order. Power without legitimacy tempts tests of strength; legitimacy without power tempts empty posturing.”
The Concert of Europe: Great Britain, Austria, and Russia
“There was not only a physical equilibrium, but a moral one. Power and justice were in substantial harmony. The balance of power reduces the opportunities for using force; a shared sense of justice reduces the desire to use force. An international order which is not considered just will be challenged sooner or later. But how a people perceives the fairness of a particular world order is determined as much by its domestic institutions as by judgments on tactical foreign-policy issues. For that reason, compatibility between domestic institutions is a reinforcement for peace.”
“In Great Britain’s concept of world order, the test of the balance of power was how well the various nations could perform the roles assigned to them in the overall design…In implementing this approach, Great Britain faced with respect to the Continental countries the same difference in perspective that the United States encountered during the Cold War. For nations simply do not define their purpose as cogs in a security system. Security makes their existence possible; it is never their sole or even principal purpose.”
“Historically, Germany has been either too weak or too strong for the peace of Europe.”
“In dealing with the defeated enemy, the victors designing a peace settlement must navigate the transition from the intransigence vital to victory to the conciliaton needed to achieve a lasting peace. A punitive peace mortgages the international order because it saddles the victors, drained by their wartime exertions, with the task of holding down a country determined to undermine the settlement. Any country with a grievance is assured of finding nearly automatic support from the disaffected defeated party. This would be the bane of the Treaty of Versailles.”
Legitimacy tempers power-politics. After the Congress of Vienna, legitimacy helped to ensure the balance of power. A strength of Bush's democracy agenda is to bring the constraining issue of legitimacy into the forefront, but this time rest it on the legitimacy of a government vis-à-vis its people. Because it is the people who will feel the ill-effects of a government's foreign adventures and domestic policies, granting power to the people creates a great incentive for a government not to rock the boat to any great extent.
Random question on Islamophobia: at what point is it rational to fear group ‘x’? At what point is it useful? Are those two points the same?
“Because complexity inhibits flexibility, early choices are especially crucial.”
From Universality to Equilibrium
“Of course, in the end a balance of power always comes about de facto when several states interact.”
“Equilibrium works best if it is buttressed by an agreement on common values. The balance of power inhibits the capacity to overthrow the international order; agreement on shared values inhibits the desire to overthrow the international order. Power without legitimacy tempts tests of strength; legitimacy without power tempts empty posturing.”
The Concert of Europe: Great Britain, Austria, and Russia
“There was not only a physical equilibrium, but a moral one. Power and justice were in substantial harmony. The balance of power reduces the opportunities for using force; a shared sense of justice reduces the desire to use force. An international order which is not considered just will be challenged sooner or later. But how a people perceives the fairness of a particular world order is determined as much by its domestic institutions as by judgments on tactical foreign-policy issues. For that reason, compatibility between domestic institutions is a reinforcement for peace.”
“In Great Britain’s concept of world order, the test of the balance of power was how well the various nations could perform the roles assigned to them in the overall design…In implementing this approach, Great Britain faced with respect to the Continental countries the same difference in perspective that the United States encountered during the Cold War. For nations simply do not define their purpose as cogs in a security system. Security makes their existence possible; it is never their sole or even principal purpose.”
“Historically, Germany has been either too weak or too strong for the peace of Europe.”
“In dealing with the defeated enemy, the victors designing a peace settlement must navigate the transition from the intransigence vital to victory to the conciliaton needed to achieve a lasting peace. A punitive peace mortgages the international order because it saddles the victors, drained by their wartime exertions, with the task of holding down a country determined to undermine the settlement. Any country with a grievance is assured of finding nearly automatic support from the disaffected defeated party. This would be the bane of the Treaty of Versailles.”
Legitimacy tempers power-politics. After the Congress of Vienna, legitimacy helped to ensure the balance of power. A strength of Bush's democracy agenda is to bring the constraining issue of legitimacy into the forefront, but this time rest it on the legitimacy of a government vis-à-vis its people. Because it is the people who will feel the ill-effects of a government's foreign adventures and domestic policies, granting power to the people creates a great incentive for a government not to rock the boat to any great extent.
Random question on Islamophobia: at what point is it rational to fear group ‘x’? At what point is it useful? Are those two points the same?
posted by John Aristides at 8/31/2006 01:02:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home