''Deterring Democracy'' is a book published in 1991 by

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) 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 ...

, which explores the differences between the

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

and imperialistic reality of United States foreign policy and how it affects various countries around the world. It was re-released by

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is an American non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago and emphasizing works on left-wing politics. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had ...

in February 2024. In the book, Chomsky explores the idea that the US is the only remaining world superpower that works to maintain its dominance, even ruthlessly employing violence such as outright invasions and overthrowing governments pursuing independent economic policies. He also discusses the large difference between public opinion on the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, establishment American educated opinion and reality. The book also contains criticism aimed at the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and other communist states, but its major point centres on the fact that although the United States claimed to support freedom in the Cold War, it still supported authoritarian regimes. The conclusion that Chomsky comes to is that, despite U.S claims of supporting freedom, their actual aim was maintaining dominance over resources and geopolitical power. The full text of the book is available online.

References

External links

''Deterring Democracy''
a
Z Communications
1991 non-fiction books Books by Noam Chomsky Books about democracy Books about the Cold War Books about foreign relations of the United States Verso Books books {{poli-philo-book-stub