[MGSA-L] "descriptive, not prescriptive"

[George Baloglou]

For a change ... I am forwarding, with permission and without
comments, part of a recent post (at another forum) by Professor
Panayiotis Ifestos (University of Piraeus, International and European
Studies):


***************** begin Ifestos forwarding ******************


Few years ago I had an interesting conversation with an American
colleague. We had a dinner together at Athens Hilton following a
conference organized there. He is a most prominent and most brilliant
scholar in international relations. They are about 15 scholars
altogether worldwide
(http://www.ifestosedu.gr/61bibliografia%20students.htm). I just note,
here, what is commonly known about the wonderful jungle of political
science and political science of international relations: The
remaining so called academics living in hegemonic states: a) most of
them serve "soft power" strategies of the their state, including
Turkey today (publicly declared by FM Axmet Davutoglou) and b) in
secondary establishments destined mostly for foreigners some teach
tasteless introductory stories not good even for children and or
submit deconstructionist ideas to them (ethnomidenistes). Those living
in weak-dependencies that is, weak states targeted by hegemonic
strategies, have only one choice: To serve the strategies of the
hegemonic states, e.g. the orgy on interventions of the post-cold war
era, the violation of rule of law in the Aegean, the imposition of a
fascist protectorate in Cyprus that would serve imperialism etc. Lets
return to my American colleague (note he is descriptive not
prescriptive!!, himself, in fact, opposes his country's hegemonic
overextension in Irak and elsewhere). My colleague informed me that he
has my books on strategy in the bibliographical list he suggests to
his students. I looked at him and put him a simple question: <<In these
books I analyze standard concepts on strategy, geopolitics,
theoretical relevance of Thucydides and Clausewitz, etc. Why I went
on, almost innocently, Americans are eligible to read this analysis
(so far know, Chinese, Russians, British et al) but not the Greeks.
Why here, in my own country, the same analysis, or even a softened
one, is attacked vehemently by an army of "academic hitmen" murdering
my academic positions by characterizing me with various epithets or
even insulting me!>>.
He looked at me really surprised and indeed "squashed me":
<<Reading your books I thought you are clever. Obviously you are not or
you are pitifully uninformed. Uninformed as to what happens outside
the circle of our wonderful theoretical concepts. If you are living in
the United States you would had been a scholar like me or,
alternatively, as most do, a "soldier" of the Pendagon. This is not
what they do 99% of the so called academics in USA? There is a
triangle, dear friend: 1. Approximately 3000 "institutes related to
the American government", 2. The Pentagon establishment of as we call
it there "The Company", and 3. The Universities. The so called
academics work and live luxuriously by consciously or unconsciously
"serving" our strategic interests within this triangle. IR theory is
done my Carr, Morgenthau, Gilpin, Waltz et al, not by them. Sometime
we expedite them abroad. Now: Living in a weak state like Greece you
must either be a critical constructivist* consciously or unconsciously
serving the hegemonic claims of states like mine or be recruited in an
"institute" financed by us or a transnational actor such as Soros who
is also occasionally cooperating with our services. The one or the
other way, living and working in Greece, Servia or Albania you are
bound consciously or unconsciously to be so commissioned as to analyze
and "instruct" your people the following: It is nationalistic to
develop a deterrence strategy or even to claim that you have national
interests. National interest do have only the hegemonic states:  Weak
states should not have national interests and that is how your people
should learn to think. Either you propagate this or you shut up.
Didn't you read Edward H. Carr or Kenneth Waltz? Understand it dear
colleague: I am descriptive not prescriptive: Independent states,
especially the hegemonic and their allies, should have a preemptive
aggressive strategy. Non-independent states or states which are
targeted with the purpose to diminish their national independence
,should be so driven as not to have a deterrence or any other
defensive strategy. They must be flexible and adaptable to our
hegemonic interests. To be a scholar in Greece or in any other
dependency is an illusion!!. This state of affairs changes only if
Greece politically speaking becomes an independent state. Nor
nominally. In reality independent. If you insist to behave scholarly
in Greece you are condemned to me "murdered" by our academic or media
hitmen consciously or unconsciously commissioned by our government
worldwide in the context of our soft power strategy. Wake up!! I
repeat I am descriptive not prescriptive: Didn't you read about soft
power strategy**. It is 90% of the strategic planning of hegemonic
states. I regret when I see people like you not being conscious that
the problem is political, not academic. After all you have Thucydides
that provides a global and formidably true explanation and
interpretation!! Why not everybody reads it here in Athens!!. Wake up
dear friend>>


****************** end Ifestos forwarding ********************


-- 
Γιώργος Μπαλόγλου -- Θεσσαλονίκη

http://www.oswego.edu/~baloglou (1988 - 2008)

http://crystallomath.wordpress.com (2009 - )