[lbo-talk] Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education

[Carl G. Estabrook]

The Crisis of Democracy: On the Governability of Democracies was  
initially a 1975 report written by Michel Crozier, Samuel P.  
Huntington, and Joji Watanuki for the Trilateral Commission and later  
published as a book.
The report observed the political state of the United States, Europe  
and Japan and says that in the United States the problems of  
governance "stem from an excess of democracy" and thus advocates "to  
restore the prestige and authority of central government  
institutions."[1]

Europe

The report outlines that in 1960s Western Europe the governments are  
"overloaded with participants and demands" which the highly  
bureaucratic political systems are unable to handle and thus is  
becoming ungovernable. It points to a political decision made by  
France that was made in "semisecret, without open political debate,  
but with a tremendous amount of lobbying and intrabureaucratic  
conflict".

United States

The vitality of democracy in the United States in the 1960s produced a  
substantial increase in governmental activity and a substantial  
decrease in governmental authority.

—Samuel P. Huntington
The report says the problems of the United States in the 1960s was the  
"impulse of democracy is to make government less powerful and more  
active, to increase its functions, and to decrease its authority" and  
concludes these demands are contradictory. The impulse for the  
undermining of legitimacy was said to be done by new activism, an  
adversarial news media while the increase in government was said to be  
due to the Cold War defense budget and Great Society programs. Thus  
what is said to be needed is a "balance is to be restored between  
governmental activity and governmental authority". The effects of this  
"excess of democracy" if not fixed are said to be an inability to  
maintain international trade, budget deficits and inability to  
maintain "hegemonic power" in the world.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_democracy>

On Jun 19, 2012, at 5:34 AM, shag carpet bomb wrote:


> what is the "crisis of democracy" report to which he refers?
>
> At 02:07 AM 6/19/2012, Chuck Grimes wrote:
>
>> When the sun sets on the American empire, as it will, as it must,  
>> Noam Chomsky's work will survive ...
>>
>> -----------
>>
>> Here is Chomsky in Arizona:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_EgdShO1K8
>>
>> The audience must have all the liberals in the state assembled in  
>> one place.
>>
>>
>> CG
>>
>>
>> ___________________________________
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>
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