Fire In the East by Paul Bracken

Author:Paul Bracken [Bracken, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-06-201282-1
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1999-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

NATIONALISM: THE “HOT” SIDE OF ASIAN DEFENSE

Giving atomic missiles to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is not like deploying jets in the British air force. An irrational politics of rage permeates the Middle East, coloring the whole context there for missiles and weapons of mass destruction. This was not the case when Western forces first acquired nuclear arms.

Cold war passions were buried beneath an ideology of technocratic professionalism during the height of the Western arms race. The term cold war captured this point. It stayed “cold” because the competition was approached in a clinical, almost antiseptic way. The national hysteria that plunged Europe into hot wars was bottled up by the two superpowers. During the cold war the dangerous excesses of anticommunism and anticapitalism were checked when it came to military action. The professional and technocratic nature of the two military forces made this easier. There were no blood-curdling calls for revenge on the enemy from the American or Soviet officer corps. The cold war experience is worth noting in this regard. In both the United States and the Soviet Union it took about twenty years for the civilians in control to fully come to grips with the dangers of the nuclear age. In the United States President Truman’s sacking of Douglas MacArthur clearly established who was in control. Later, in the 1960s, Secretary of Defense McNamara had to fire some generals to get this point across once again. In the 1950s the Soviet Union replaced its top generals with officers who were more technocratic than red, that is, more expert in managing complicated missile programs than heirs to the Bolshevik tradition of world revolution. The result in both the United States and the Soviet Union was that the political leaders on each side had little to worry about from hotheaded generals.

The transformation of Asia into a capitalist market economy is fostering nationalism, which reinforces tendencies toward extremism. While every Asian country is unique in its brand of nationalism, nearly all are increasingly exposed to the fragmenting forces of globalization and industrialization. Industrialization requires a money economy, which replaces the established social relations among classes. Peasants find it hard to adapt to the new conditions. Large-scale modern industry and commerce are especially disruptive to the small businesses and shopkeepers who are critical to the social fabricof most Asian countries. The power of big business grows, while that of small enterprise declines. Especially in countries like India and China, where custom governs so much of life, industrialization is likely to promote a breakdown in social cohesion as market mechanisms replace traditional forms of social control.

Something has to compensate for these shattering changes. It is no coincidence that nationalism is growing in India and China as they both undergo the effects of globalization. Nationalism finds fertile ground when old symbols and ways no longer provide the continuity they once did.

It is difficult to generalize about Asian nationalism, but one common thread connecting its many variations from one country to the next is an underlying anti-Western sentiment that goes back to the origin of these states.

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