notesfromdisgraceland | In the next
few years, social disorder in developed countries could take new
dimension as demographic imbalances continue to weaken state structures
further. This could be expressed through two different modes. 1) The
discontent of ethnically excluded (e.g. Western Europe’s post-colonial
minority populations) spreads to absorb and articulate the sentiments of
other exclusions. 2) The discontent of the permanently excluded, like
African Americans, provokes a reaction of the redundant natives, the
white underclass, and triggers their uprising and backlash. Civil warfare, initially misdiagnosed as increase in crime, would escalate.
The scramble
for protection (which has already begun) assumes new forms, as the
states cannot provide it due to lack of funding and legitimation. The
state’s monopoly on violence is breached and reorganized through the
expansion of private protection armies, right-wing militias, and
different privatized police structures. This process had already been
accomplished in the post-socialist countries about 25 years ago and is
likely to serve as a blueprint for a similar transformation in the
western world.
Western
democratic states where these transformations take place will gradually
converge towards failed states. Contours of this program are already
inscribed in the appointments for high public offices by the current
administration. Combined with the other side-effects of globalization
and the underlying social fragmentation, these developments will lead to
further criminalization of societies and polarization of distribution
with escalation of corruption and dismantling of the institutions of the
democratic state as a natural consequence, implying further
instabilities. Organized crime will blossom and reinforce its
legitimacy, while developed countries will converge closer towards
criminal oligarchies or other authoritarian structures.
0 comments:
Post a Comment