United States of the West
Encyclopedia
The United States of the West is a political union satirically advocated by French writer, philosopher, social commentator, and self-proclaimed mediologist
, Régis Debray
(born 1940), in his short essay entitled, "Empire 2.0: A Modest Proposal for a United States of the West by Xavier de C***."
The essay was first published in France in 2002, as L'Edit de caracalla.
In Empire 2.0, Debray's fictitious acquaintance, Xavier de C***, argues that the political enfranchisement of Europe
by the United States of America
and the official consolidation of the West into an enlarged United States of the West, is the best solution to confronting the current ideological threats and political challenges the West faces from radical Islam
, international terrorism
, competition for finite resources and responsible resource management, as well as population decline, and would be the only effective safeguard against any future claims to a "Confucian" or Asian empire, asserted by an ascendant, militarized, and aggressive China
.
Debray's Xavier de C***, formerly a French citizen, government official, political consultant, and international military advisor, then recounts to Debray how he swore his oath of allegiance in New York City and gained American citizenship in September 2001, immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
, NATO and the United Nations
to effectively address serious crisises, and his own conception of the Western cultural tradition and Western philosophy, as well as what the events of 9/11 and the inevitable American response which will shortly follow, portends for both men.
In his letter, de C*** states that currently, only the United States is in a position to take physical and moral responsibility for the stability of the political and economic order, as well as the preservation of the shared values and culture of Western nations, because the United States is the only Western political entity capable of effectively and decisively using force against the ideological enemies of the distinctly "Western" values and traditions which Europeans and Americans share, thus the United States is the only truly politically empowered nation in the Western world.
Xavier argues that there is essentially already an informal arrangement between many nations and the United States, and that if Europe, namely France, wants to play any serious role in her own domestic affairs, as well as a leading role in guiding or shaping international relations, then European citizens must gain many of the rights currently afforded solely to U.S. citizens in regards to the administration of the U.S. government.
Xavier believes that France and other nations could preserve their local and regional governments and cultural identities, and could refine the more base aspects and tendencies of inferior American culture, much as Greece
contributed to Rome
in the classical era.
While France and Europe would contribute to a larger whole by electing presidents and assuming roles in the U.S. government, instead of wasting time trying to counter U.S. hegemony economically but not militarily, through the European Union
and other economic entities, which all ultimately fail to govern because they lack the "force" of law, they would sacrifice little in Xavier's eyes, and gain individual political rights, in tune with the Western democratic tradition.
Xavier argues that because Europeans and other "Occidental" or Westernized societies continue to deny the reality of their near complete military and economic dependency on the United States, as well as their commonality with American culture out of pretension, and fail to admit the gravity of the situation that the entire West at-large faces from distinctly intolerant, illiberal, and un-Western ideologies and cultures quickly spreading throughout the world, Europeans will face cultural extinction, a further disintegration of economic security, free trade, and free conscience, as well as political oppression within a few hundred years.
In de C***'s eyes, as American power wanes from lack of coherence, guidance, and grand strategy, which only European knowledge and insight can provide, Europeans will find themselves in a much more degraded state, and at the mercy of social and political ideologies and forces which are incompatible with Western virtues and conceptions of individuality; a decline that must be avoided and reversed by either a large influx of new citizens into the American structure or expanded national, civic and cultural awareness, among a broadened, cohesive citizenry.
Xavier advises Debray, and the French to lead the effort for this "official merger" between Europe and the United States, instead of persisting along the current path, because the current tendencies of European governments have led to a precarious situation and continuing along this trajectory only serves to preserve a kind of servile, political half-life among European nations and citizens, either as "junior partners" in U.S. led ventures, or conversely, as merely resentful, reluctant critics in ineffective organizations such as the United Nations
and NATO or other naive, self-deluding social organizations.
Xavier states that France is in danger of losing individual rights, political freedoms, and even the ability to co-exist with other nations, because Totalitarian Islam
continues to acquire influence as a legitimate reaction to Western economic and military practices, and Islam
ic culture in general, will soon have over 2 billion adherents. As Europe faces a serious depopulation crisis, and "the West" only constitutes about 1/4 of the world's current population, there is no reason to believe that any Western values will be transmitted down through any of the generations beyond the next 200 years.
Xavier asks rhetorically, if individual liberties, namely women's rights, religious freedom and tolerance, political stability and domestic order, would be better preserved if Europe were to accommodate totalitarian Islamists
as France and England did with Hitler at Munich
, or alternately whether Europe and the West would survive the ideological and political machinations of China
, if China were allowed to become the world's only economic and military hyperpower
, following U.S. military overstretch or economic depression resulting from this lack of Western cohesion, and the blowback effects of U.S. unilateralism
operating without a moderating European influence.
He firmly believes that the United States should extend United States citizenship (through a modernized Edict of Caracalla to all Canadians, Latinos
, European
s, Japanese
, Koreans
, New Zealanders and Australians, in order to formalize the political center of Western civilization, which in fact, already exists and is tacitly understood, thus formally extending democracy to people who are already governed by U.S. economic and security policies, as well as dominated by American cultural forms, yet have no vote or official representation in the U.S. government, and thus no real say in strategic or economic affairs.
. He goes on to state that he was a "strategist, resolute and without illusions...(who) had intelligence, without the morose of self-indulgence that so often accompanies it."
in his book, Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America, Tells of American Expansionists and their desire to bring America, primarily American culture, to the rest of the world, starting with Europe.
Mediology
Mediology , broadly indicates a wide-ranging method for the analysis of cultural transmission in society and across societies, a method which challenges the conventional idea that 'technology is not culture'...
, Régis Debray
Régis Debray
Jules Régis Debray is a French intellectual, journalist, government official and professor. He is known for his theorization of mediology, a critical theory of the long-term transmission of cultural meaning in human society; and for having fought in 1967 with Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in...
(born 1940), in his short essay entitled, "Empire 2.0: A Modest Proposal for a United States of the West by Xavier de C***."
Synopsis
Empire 2.0 is presented as a fictitious letter sent to Debray from an old acquaintance, a French expatriate named Xavier de C***, who is writing to him from America in October 2001, in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.The essay was first published in France in 2002, as L'Edit de caracalla.
In Empire 2.0, Debray's fictitious acquaintance, Xavier de C***, argues that the political enfranchisement of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
by the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the official consolidation of the West into an enlarged United States of the West, is the best solution to confronting the current ideological threats and political challenges the West faces from radical Islam
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
, international terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, competition for finite resources and responsible resource management, as well as population decline, and would be the only effective safeguard against any future claims to a "Confucian" or Asian empire, asserted by an ascendant, militarized, and aggressive China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Epilogue
Debray begins the epilogue with the lines: "A man of quality went off to war, and never came home. From the other shore of America, he wrote to an old friend from university days, a mellowed Parisian with the perspective of distance."The Letter
The letter to Debray from Xavier, begins: "The past is over. You can guess which past I mean, since I'm no longer writing you in our common lingo."Debray's Xavier de C***, formerly a French citizen, government official, political consultant, and international military advisor, then recounts to Debray how he swore his oath of allegiance in New York City and gained American citizenship in September 2001, immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
Xavier's Argument for A United States of the West
Xavier discusses the current state of the world, world history, American and European styles of government, western culture, the intellectual traditions of France, the failures of the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, NATO and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
to effectively address serious crisises, and his own conception of the Western cultural tradition and Western philosophy, as well as what the events of 9/11 and the inevitable American response which will shortly follow, portends for both men.
In his letter, de C*** states that currently, only the United States is in a position to take physical and moral responsibility for the stability of the political and economic order, as well as the preservation of the shared values and culture of Western nations, because the United States is the only Western political entity capable of effectively and decisively using force against the ideological enemies of the distinctly "Western" values and traditions which Europeans and Americans share, thus the United States is the only truly politically empowered nation in the Western world.
Xavier argues that there is essentially already an informal arrangement between many nations and the United States, and that if Europe, namely France, wants to play any serious role in her own domestic affairs, as well as a leading role in guiding or shaping international relations, then European citizens must gain many of the rights currently afforded solely to U.S. citizens in regards to the administration of the U.S. government.
Xavier believes that France and other nations could preserve their local and regional governments and cultural identities, and could refine the more base aspects and tendencies of inferior American culture, much as Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
contributed to Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
in the classical era.
While France and Europe would contribute to a larger whole by electing presidents and assuming roles in the U.S. government, instead of wasting time trying to counter U.S. hegemony economically but not militarily, through the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and other economic entities, which all ultimately fail to govern because they lack the "force" of law, they would sacrifice little in Xavier's eyes, and gain individual political rights, in tune with the Western democratic tradition.
Xavier argues that because Europeans and other "Occidental" or Westernized societies continue to deny the reality of their near complete military and economic dependency on the United States, as well as their commonality with American culture out of pretension, and fail to admit the gravity of the situation that the entire West at-large faces from distinctly intolerant, illiberal, and un-Western ideologies and cultures quickly spreading throughout the world, Europeans will face cultural extinction, a further disintegration of economic security, free trade, and free conscience, as well as political oppression within a few hundred years.
In de C***'s eyes, as American power wanes from lack of coherence, guidance, and grand strategy, which only European knowledge and insight can provide, Europeans will find themselves in a much more degraded state, and at the mercy of social and political ideologies and forces which are incompatible with Western virtues and conceptions of individuality; a decline that must be avoided and reversed by either a large influx of new citizens into the American structure or expanded national, civic and cultural awareness, among a broadened, cohesive citizenry.
Xavier advises Debray, and the French to lead the effort for this "official merger" between Europe and the United States, instead of persisting along the current path, because the current tendencies of European governments have led to a precarious situation and continuing along this trajectory only serves to preserve a kind of servile, political half-life among European nations and citizens, either as "junior partners" in U.S. led ventures, or conversely, as merely resentful, reluctant critics in ineffective organizations such as the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and NATO or other naive, self-deluding social organizations.
Xavier states that France is in danger of losing individual rights, political freedoms, and even the ability to co-exist with other nations, because Totalitarian Islam
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
continues to acquire influence as a legitimate reaction to Western economic and military practices, and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic culture in general, will soon have over 2 billion adherents. As Europe faces a serious depopulation crisis, and "the West" only constitutes about 1/4 of the world's current population, there is no reason to believe that any Western values will be transmitted down through any of the generations beyond the next 200 years.
Xavier asks rhetorically, if individual liberties, namely women's rights, religious freedom and tolerance, political stability and domestic order, would be better preserved if Europe were to accommodate totalitarian Islamists
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
as France and England did with Hitler at Munich
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, or alternately whether Europe and the West would survive the ideological and political machinations of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, if China were allowed to become the world's only economic and military hyperpower
Hyperpower
A hyperpower is a state that dominates all other states in every sphere of activity. A hyperpower is traditionally considered to be one step higher than a superpower. The definition and use of the term varies....
, following U.S. military overstretch or economic depression resulting from this lack of Western cohesion, and the blowback effects of U.S. unilateralism
Unilateralism
Unilateralism is any doctrine or agenda that supports one-sided action. Such action may be in disregard for other parties, or as an expression of a commitment toward a direction which other parties may find agreeable...
operating without a moderating European influence.
He firmly believes that the United States should extend United States citizenship (through a modernized Edict of Caracalla to all Canadians, Latinos
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
, European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
s, Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
, Koreans
Korean people
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...
, New Zealanders and Australians, in order to formalize the political center of Western civilization, which in fact, already exists and is tacitly understood, thus formally extending democracy to people who are already governed by U.S. economic and security policies, as well as dominated by American cultural forms, yet have no vote or official representation in the U.S. government, and thus no real say in strategic or economic affairs.
Who is Xavier de C*** ?
In his "Epitaph," following the end of the letter, Debray describes Xavier as a "man of letters against his will," a "man of action, always preferring to be 'on the ground,'" who specialized in classical studies, specifically the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. He goes on to state that he was a "strategist, resolute and without illusions...(who) had intelligence, without the morose of self-indulgence that so often accompanies it."
Internal Links
Cullen MurphyCullen Murphy
John Cullen Murphy, Jr. is an American writer and editor probably best known for his work at The Atlantic, where he served as managing editor and editor ....
in his book, Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America, Tells of American Expansionists and their desire to bring America, primarily American culture, to the rest of the world, starting with Europe.