Re: [nukkad] U.S. Minority Population Continues to Grow

["Dr.M.C. Gupta" <>]

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Rohit bhai,

I have no grouse against anybody. I am a firm believer that there is a
superhuman power that ordains things. The humans are given freedom to act
one way or the other. If they act one way, that of equity, morality, ethics,
conscience and legality in general, the humanity gains in the long run. If
they act the other way, out of greed, selfishness, or shortsightedness, they
seemingly gain individually, in the short run. The choice is that of man,
and the conglomerates of men and women in the form of societies and nations.

However, I want to submit that you are apparently wrong on the following
counts:

1. In your concept of hegemony;

2. In your thinking that hegemony is OK. Such thinking is against the UN
Charter of Human Rights.

I am appending below excerpts from Wikipedia.

MCG

==================================


*Hegemony* (pronounced
/hɨˈdʒɛməni/<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation>(Amer.),
/hɨˈɡɛməni/ (Brit.))[1] 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony#cite_note-0>(
Greek <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language>: ἡγεμονία 
*hēgemonía*)
is a concept that has been used to describe the existence of
dominance<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominance_hierarchy>of one
social group over another, such that the ruling group—referred to as
a *hegemon*—acquires some degree of consent from the subordinate, as opposed
to dominance purely by
force.[2]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony#cite_note-1>It is used
broadly to mean any kind of dominance, and narrowly to refer to
specifically cultural and non-military dominance, as opposed to the related
notions of empire <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire> and
suzerainty<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzerainty>
.

In International
Relations<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Relations>,
a hegemon may be defined as a state or power that can dictate the policies
of all other powers in its vicinity, or that is able to defeat any other
power or combination of powers that it might be at war with.

The processes by which a dominant culture maintains its dominant position:
for example, the use of institutions to formalize power; the employment of a
bureaucracy to make power seem abstract (and, therefore, not attached to any
one individual); the inculcation of the populace in the ideals of the
hegomonic group through education, advertising, publication, etc.; the
mobilization of a police force as well as military personnel to subdue
opposition.

Definitions

Researchers use hegemony to explain how dominant groups or individuals can
maintain their power -- the capacity of dominant
classes<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class>to persuade
subordinate ones to accept, adopt and internalize their values
and norms. Antonio Gramsci
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci>devised one of the
best-known accounts of hegemony. His theory defined the
State <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State> by a mixture of
coercion<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercion>and hegemony, between
which he drew distinctions. According to Gramsci,
hegemony consists of socio-political power that flows from enabling the
"spontaneous consent" of the populace through intellectual and moral
leadership <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership> or authority as
employed by the subalterns of the State. The power of the hegemony is thus
primarily through coercion and consent rather than armed force. Such
conceptions are sometimes referred to as "cultural
hegemony<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony>
."

Recently, Ernesto Laclau <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Laclau>
and Chantal
Mouffe <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantal_Mouffe> have re-defined the
term "hegemony" as a discursive strategy of combining principles from
different systems of thought into one coherent ideology.

Hegemonies in history

The word "hegemony" originated in ancient
Greece<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece>and derives from the word
*hegeisthai* (meaning "to lead"). An early example of hegemony during
ancient Greek history <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_history> occurred
when Sparta <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta> became the hegemon
of the Peloponnesian
League <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_League> in the 6th
century BC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_century_BC>. Later, in
337 BC<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/337_BC>,
Philip II of Macedon
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Macedon>became the personal
Hegemon of the League
of Corinth <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Corinth>, a position he
passed on to his son Alexander the
Great<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great>
.

The concept of "Hegemony" was also present in ancient
China<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China>,
during the Spring and Autumn
Period<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_Period>(ca. 770
BC - 480 BC), when the weakening of the Zhou
Dynasty <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Zhou_Dynasty> led to increased
autonomy amongst the feudal lords of the period. The
hegemons<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Hegemons_%28Spring_and_Autumn_Period%29>,
known as "Ba" (Chinese: 霸), were often appointed by conferences of feudal
lords, and they were nominally obliged to uphold the supremacy of the Zhou
kings and keep order amongst subordinate states.

The term hegemon is also used to describe
Japan<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan>'s
three unifiers in the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century. Oda
Nobunaga <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga>, Toyotomi
Hideyoshi<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi>and Tokugawa
Ieyasu <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu> each had different
titles (and held many different posts during their lifetimes), but each had
in common that they exercised hegemony over all or much of Japan. For ease
of reference they are collectively referred to as the three hegemons or the
three unifiers.

To the extent that hegemony appears as a cultural phenomenon, cultural
institutions maintain it. The Medici
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medici>maintained their hegemony in
Tuscany through control of
Florence <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence>'s major guild, the *Arte
della Lana.* Modern hegemonies also maintain themselves through cultural
institutions, often with allegedly "voluntary" membership.

The dominance of the Dutch Republic during the 17th Century (1609-1672) can
be considered one of the first instances of a "global" hegemon, with a focus
on mercantilism. This was due to its development of wind power and shipping
which enabled it to develop as a hegemon because of production efficiency.
It then gained a commercial advantage through the generation of the 'Four
Great Fleets' and later gained financial dominance, with the emergence of
the stock market in Amsterdam.

During much of the rather absolutist reign of Louis XIV (1638-1715), France
dominated most of Europe economically, culturally, and militarily. Monarchs
imitated his court and style, even paying tribute as vassal status in many
cases, while the Papacy could not effect even bishopric appointments, let
alone secular politics.

In more recent times, analysts have used the term hegemony in a more
abstract sense to describe the
"proletarian<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletariat>
dictatorships <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictatorship>" of the 20th
century, resulting in regional domination by local
powers<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_%28international%29>,
or domination of the world by a global power. China's position of dominance
in East Asia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asia> for most of its
history offers an example of the regional hegemony.

The Cold War <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War> (1945 - 1990), with its
main avenues of coercion — the Warsaw
Pact<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact>led by the
USSR <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union> and
NATO<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO>led by the United
States <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States> — often appears as a
battle for hegemony. The details of the parties' respective ideologies have
no relevance to whether they are hegemons: both sides featured
superpowers<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower>(supported by
their
clients <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Client_state>) battling to dominate
the arms race <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_race> and become the
supreme world superpower. The details of the ideologies do come into play to
the extent that they determine the persuasiveness or efficiency of each
hegemon.

After the end of the Cold War, some analysts used the term "hegemony" to
describe the United States' role as the sole superpower (or
hyperpower<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpower>)
in the modern world. However, many scholars of international relations (such
as John Mearsheimer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer> or Joseph
Nye <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Nye>) argue that the United States
does not have true hegemony, since it lacks the resources to impose
dominance over the entire globe. While the United States has dominance on
political-military issues, it is equal to Europe on the economic scale, and
has very little influence on transnational relations by non-state
actors.[3]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony#cite_note-2>Also,
China <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People%27s_Republic_of_China>,and
the European Union <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union> are
considered by some to be emerging superpowers capable of or already
competing with the United States.
 ==================================================================


On 5/16/08, Rohit Mansukhlal  wrote:
>
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> May they grow more and more, but through legal means. That is the only way
> to curb and control white arrogance and hegemony.
>
> M C Gupta
>
> =================================================
> Arrogance yes, deserves to be checked, but why hegemony ?
> It is never received on silver platter on in alms bowl, it is always
> earned through sheer industry. The whole world as it stands today,
> as it is going thorugh it's daily routine today is the making of all people
> and countries lying west of India, predominantly the Whites, so they
> are naturally entitled to dominate. What is then the grouse ???
>
> Rohit Zaveri
>
>
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-- 
Prof. M C Gupta
MD (Medicine), MPH,  LL.M.,

Advocate & Health and Medico-legal Consultant

mcgupta44@gmail.com
www.writing.com/authors/mcgupta44
http://mcgupta44.blogspot.com/

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