The Nation

Kramer, Reinhold

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-30569-7_6

Reinhold Kramer²

224 Accesses

Abstract

Two expressions of the decline of grand narratives are the declining trust in politicians and the arrival of an ethos that prioritizes the individual over the system and the consumer over the citizen. Group identities haven’t faded, but self-sacrifice for the group or nation has diminished. On the international level, postmodernity’s deregulatory trend of economic globalization has severely limited national sovereignties. In trade and in multilateral institutions such as the EU and the UN, the world is increasingly postmodern, with no single foundation and no empire that can dictate terms. Although this post-Westphalian system frees capital to exploit labour, the system has also nearly erased wars between nations. According to Kramer, a contractarian system is emerging that still allows for selective national sovereignty.

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Notes

1.
Bauman, Liquid, 173.
2.
Ondaatje, 138–9.
3.
“Michael Ondaatje and Anthony Minghella interview on The English Patient,” Charlie Rose, 1996, published 16 July 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScjsILH9Ud4.
4.
See David Williams, Imagined, 226–7, 240–4 on Almàsy’s post-national identity.
5.
Pinker, Better, 384–92; Enlightenment, 218–20.
6.
Recently both the American and Canadian armies have had difficulty meeting recruitment goals. Jim Tice, “Army recruiting market tightens but service expects to make 2016 goal,” Army Times, 23 February 2016, https://www.armytimes.com/story/military/careers/army/2016/02/23/army-recruiting-market-tightens-but-service-expects-make-2016-goal/80624982/. Lee Berthiaume, “Canadian military losing soldiers at increasing rate as headcount drops to level not seen in years,” National Post, 27 January 2016, http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-military-losing-soldiers-at-increasing-rate-headcount-drops-to-level-not-seen-in-years.
7.
Rudder, 214.
8.
Nick Bilton, “Trump’s Biggest Lie? The Size of His Twitter Following,” Vanity Fair, 4 August 2016, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/trumps-biggest-lie-the-size-of-his-twitter-following. Trump is not alone—the practice is common among politicians and retailers.
9.
Mounk, 100.
10.
Stanyer, 162.
11.
Stephen D. King, 158.
12.
Twenge and Campbell, 290.
13.
Bauerlein, 185; Maich and George, 159.
14.
Lane, 334, 231, 272–3, 277.
15.
Bauerlein, 19. Among college freshmen, those who thought it essential to keep up with politics declined from 60% in 1966 to 34% in 2004. Young adults were much less likely to read the news than were older adults (Twenge, Me, 141–2).
16.
Bauerlein, 17, 19, 13.
17.
Putnam, 218, 220.
18.
Twenge, iGen, 176–7.
19.
Putnam, 219–21, 250–1.
20.
Roberts, 222.
21.
Twenge, Me, 139.
22.
Twenge, Me, 138; Twenge, iGen, 282.
23.
Bauman, Does, 204–5.
24.
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25.
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26.
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27.
Pew, “Millennials,” 83.
28.
Twenge, iGen, 281–2. See also Mounk.
29.
Kirby, Digimodernism, 152–3.
30.
Bergen, Morris, 10.
31.
Roberts, 223.
32.
Bertens, 247.
33.
Putnam, 261.
34.
Samuels, 6–7.
35.
Mounk, 100, 105, 107, 109–10.
36.
Roberts, 204.
37.
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38.
Roberts, 205.
39.
Maich and George, 177–80.
40.
Grossberg, 185.
41.
Maich and George, 183–4.
42.
Bauman, Discontents, 63.
43.
Morozov, Save, 117.
44.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 381.
45.
Wallace, Pale, 138, 136.
46.
Putnam, 45.
47.
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48.
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51.
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52.
Kellner, Nightmare, 11, 18, 24, 26.
53.
Stanyer, 2, 21.
54.
Stanyer, 37–8.
55.
Bauman, Liquid, 37.
56.
Murphy, 29.
57.
Yoni Appelbaum, “Losing the Democratic Habit,” The Atlantic, October 2018, 76.
58.
Martin Patriquin and Charlie Gillis, “How to make a candidate,” Maclean’s, February 2017, 26–9.
59.
Grossberg, 180–1.
60.
Kingston, “Just Watch,” 33.
61.
John McCain, @SenJohnMcCain, Twitter, 9 June 2010, https://twitter.com/senjohnmccain/status/15800359514.
62.
Packer, 23.
63.
McKay Coppins, “Newt Gingrich Says You’re Welcome,” The Atlantic, November 2018, 54–6.
64.
Roberts, 207–8.
65.
Packer, 165.
66.
Suskind.
67.
Pinker, Better, 40, 661–5; Enlightenment, 200–4.
68.
For the relationship between reason and federalism, see Heath, “Reason.”
69.
Quan-Haase, 158.
70.
Roberts, 127.
71.
Lane, 250.
72.
Roberts, 198.
73.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 371–2.
74.
Roberts, 200.
75.
Roberts, 201; Twenge, iGen, 267.
76.
Greene, 89.
77.
Bauman, Liquid, 61.
78.
Bauman, Liquid, 193; Postmodern Ethics, 131–2.
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Bauman, Liquid, 51.
80.
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82.
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83.
Hanhimäki, 5. As of 2015, the UN had 193 member states.
84.
Cooper, 36–7; Ferguson, Colossus, 239.
85.
Stephen Breyer, “America’s Courts Can’t Ignore the World,” The Atlantic, October 2018, 104–6.
86.
Ferguson, Colossus, 297–8; Gareis, 249.
87.
Bellamy and Williams, 4–5.
88.
Gareis, 57. UN Charter Articles 2(4) and 2(7), which prohibit the use of force against the territorial integrity or domestic jurisdiction of independent states, have been treated as subordinate to the Preamble and Article 1(3), which affirms fundamental human rights (Bellamy and Williams, 47–8).
89.
Bauman, Does, 28, 76, 244.
90.
Hanhimäki, 53, 137, 70.
91.
Freeman, 113; Hanhimäki, 80–5; Gareis, 108–10; Bellamy and Williams, 97–9, 246, 266–73, 276–7.
92.
Fortna, 173; Bellamy and Williams, 1, 232; Pinker, Better, 315. When belligerents gave consent to the peacekeeping forces, wars were prevented at the even higher rate of 95%.
93.
Bellamy and Williams, 44, 112–14, 284–8.
94.
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95.
Gareis, 109.
96.
Hanhimäki, 92, 99, 101, 105.
97.
Freeman, 204.
98.
Hanhimäki, 68–9.
99.
According to the UN Chapter VII, Article 51, nations have the right to defend themselves in the face of an attack or an imminent attack. This was why the UN cleared the way legally for the US to invade Afghanistan. However, no imminent threat existed in the case of Iraq (Gareis, 92–4, 262–5. Bellamy and Williams, 138–9).
100.
Edith Lederer, “US warns China on trade with North Korea,” Winnipeg Free Press, 6 July 2017.
101.
Freeman, 11, 104, 160.
102.
Gareis, 284–5.
103.
Freeman, 113.
104.
Hanhimäki, 7.
105.
Freeman, 55, 94. Gareis, 197. Cohen, 209.
106.
Hanhimäki, 122, 124. Bellamy and Williams, 138.
107.
Sen, 140–1, 409, 324.
108.
Hanhimäki, 27.
109.
Gareis, 199–200.
110.
Stephan Kazemi, “Harper’s broken promise of justice for my mother,” Toronto Star, 10 July 2015, https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/07/10/harpers-broken-promise-of-justice-for-my-mother.html.
111.
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112.
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113.
Jim Bronskill, “Supreme Court rules Google order should be applied worldwide,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 June 2017.
114.
Borrows, 124–5.
115.
Cooper, 51, 40, 43, 108, 27.
116.
Ferguson, Colossus, 234.
117.
Cooper, 59–60, 29.
118.
Cooper, 44–6, 173.
119.
Pinker, Better, xxvi, 302, 296. Pinker argues that changes in education and individual IQ (even presidential IQ!) since the nineteenth century have allowed us, through reason, to limit our emotional involvements in conflicts, by recognizing the futility of the cycle of violence and limiting our tendency to privilege our own interests over those of others (Pinker, Better, 642–70).
120.
Gillingham, 1, 7, 121, 116, 172–3, 66, 110, 152.
121.
Gillingham, 169, 177, 179, 196, 247, 84, 169.
122.
Gillingham, 72, 67.
123.
Gillingham, 191, 251–2.
124.
Rodrik, One, 210.
125.
Piketty, 24, 61.
126.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 104–17.
127.
Pinker, Better, 284, 76–7, 245, 251, 259, 682, 287.
128.
Pinker, Better, 329.
129.
Rodrik, Globalization, 91, 110, 70–2, 75.
130.
Rodrik, Globalization, 107.
131.
Stiglitz, 236.
132.
Barber, 332–3.
133.
Ferguson, Ascent, 317.
134.
Rodrik, Globalization, 92–3, 106–7, 109.
135.
Stiglitz, 221–2.
136.
Barber, 327.
137.
The market’s “optimal” choice of the laxest standards reveals, like the peacock’s tail, that what seems good for the individual corporation and its shareholders can be very bad for the larger group. See Heath, Economics, 32.
138.
Roberts, 159.
139.
Stiglitz, 92, 216–17.
140.
Sunstein, 10.
141.
Rodrik, Globalization, 125.
142.
Rodrik, Globalization, xvii–xviii, 110–11, 149–55.
143.
Rodrik, One, 210.
144.
Barber, 163, 211, 226.
145.
Rodrik, Globalization, 105.
146.
Rodrik, Globalization, 57–8.
147.
Rodrik, Globalization, 164, 76, 78. Unions had already declined between 40%–79% in the US early in the postmodern era. Putnam, 81–2.
148.
Rodrik, Globalization, 192, 198, 53, 190–1, 78–80, 195–6, 188. Baker and Joly. Freeman, 199.
149.
Rushkoff, 46–7.
150.
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151.
Marvit.
152.
Pew, “World Publics,” 1. A Pew poll in 2007, just before the Recession, found that support around the world for international trade was quite high (above 70% in most countries) with support for free markets somewhat lower. Only 7 of 47 countries showed less than 50% support of free trade, with Bulgaria the lowest at 42% (Pew, “World Publics,” 1). In 2014, after the Recession, about half of the people believed that trade lowers wages. Nevertheless, people in 44 nations not only supported trade (81%) but also supported foreign companies building plants (74%). Support for trade was lower in the US (68%), higher in the developing world (Pew, “Faith,” 2–3, 5).
153.
Ferguson, Colossus, 177. Stiglitz, 221. Bauman, Wasted, 79, 132. Wacquant, cited in Bauman, Wasted, 84.
154.
Packer, 91, 150, 52, 91, 151–2, 231, 331.
155.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 117.
156.
Rodrik, Globalization, 85.
157.
Hedges, 158.
158.
Fotopoulos, 30, 34, 282, 284–7.
159.
“Share living in extreme poverty vs. GDP per capita over time,” World Bank statistics, quoted in Roser, Global Extreme Poverty IV.i, https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty.
160.
Stephen D. King, 180, 251.
161.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 87–9.
162.
Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger, “Trump has profited from foreign labor he says is killing US jobs,” Washington Post, 13 March 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-decries-outsourced-labor-yet-he-didnt-seek-made-in-america-in-2004-deal/2016/03/13/4d65a43c-e63a-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html.
163.
Packer, 103. Roberts, 83.
164.
Packer, 104.
165.
Hill, 152.
166.
Mounk, 16–7, 218–9. Fotopoulos, 39.
167.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 98, 104–8, 111–12, 114, 117.
168.
Pinker, Enlightenment, 341–2.
169.
Mounk, 77–8, 197, 293.
170.
Rodrik, Globalization, 208–9, 15–18, 22, 237, 234. Heath, Economics, 58–60. Although the US lags behind other Western nations in its social safety net, leftists such as Fotopoulos are mistaken about “the effective dismantling of the welfare state” (Fotopoulos, 39).
171.
Roberts, 152.
172.
Rodrik, Globalization, 219–20.
173.
Pew Research polls from the early 2000s show that 90% of Europeans still felt “fairly” or “very” attached to their individual countries, but only 45% felt the same attachment to the EU (Ferguson, Colossus, 251).
174.
Gillingham, 137–9.
175.
Rodrik, Globalization, 223, 218–19, 220, 238.
176.
Stephen D. King, 251, 226.
177.
Rodrik, Globalization, 247–50.
178.
Gareis, 235, 243.
179.
Gareis, 143, 148.
180.
Cohen, 274, 188, 211–16.
181.
Rodrik, Globalization, xix, 237–8, 207. Gillingham, 122.
182.
Rodrik, Globalization, 253–5, 147, 145, 182, 262, 264, 108, 121, 283–4.
183.
Rodrik, Globalization, 266–8. Others, less sympathetic to workers in developed countries, call for a completely free labour market (Stephen D. King, 252, 236).
184.
Rodrik, Globalization, 266.
185.
Bellamy and Williams, 58, 374, 59, 121. Cohen, 174, 212.
186.
Pinker, Better, 89, 202, 159, 336–7, 341.
187.
Diamond and Plattner, 63–6.
188.
Diamond and Plattner, 6, 41, 11–12, 73–4, 102, 107, 42, 49–52.

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English and Creative Writing, Brandon University, Brandon, MB, Canada
Reinhold Kramer

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Kramer, R. (2019). The Nation. In: Are We Postmodern Yet?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30569-7_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30569-7_6
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