Professor warns of American empire

By GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff Writer

The world is at a crossroads where it could develop into a global community with human rights for all people, or become dominated by an imperial America, a Notre Dame University professor said Friday at Montana State University.

Fred Dallmayr, who spoke to about 75 professors and students, is a professor of government in Notre Dame's political science and international relations department and the author of 13 books.

Some may find Dallmayr idealistic or unrealistic, Franke Wilmer, head of MSU's political science department, said in introducing him, but nothing is more crucial today than finding a way for the world's people to live together.

Empire builders always pretend they're acting for the good of civilization, Dallmayr said. But the reality is that empires are based on military power and fear, and they exploit foreign peoples.

"Empire cannot be democratic," Dallmayr said. They are likely to unleash an unending cycle of terror -- and counterterror.

Aristotle argued that the superior Greeks had the right to govern and enslave barbarians. The Spanish conquistadors asserted they were doing the New World's Indians a favor by bringing them Christianity and civilization, when in fact 60 million Indians died under Spain's domination. The British justified their rule of India as "the white man's burden."

America today makes claims similar to Spain's, Dallmayr argued. Instead of bringing the benefits of Christianity, America contends it is bringing freedom, modernity and civilization to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on America, Dallmayr said, the Bush administration has asserted the right to wage preemptive war, abandoning rules of international law developed over centuries and escalating the "fear factor."

But shooting first and asking questions later opens the door to tragic miscalculation, he said.

Christianity, which emerged during the Roman empire despite persecution, offers a critique of empire, he said. The faith promises a reign based on peace, justice and goodness.

What the world needs is a global commonwealth held together not by a domineering superpower, but by loose federations of cooperating governments and citizens, Dallmayr said.

Instead of preventative warfare, the world needs preventative democracy.

Achieving that will take patience, education and the teaching of ethics, not violence, he said.

"Presently, the vast majority of the world's population feels left out," Dallmayr said. "That leads to frustration ... it boils over in atrocities. We need all the citizens of the world to feel equally respected as human beings, as citizens."

The terrorists of the world also need to learn that violence and atrocities only make the world more violent, Dallmayr said. He suggested people follow the non-violent examples of Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

It takes commitment, pain and suffering to make the world better, Dallmayr said, adding that Christ's crucifixion showed a price has to be paid. "We are not promised happiness. We are promised a task."

Gail Schontzler is at gails@dailychronicle.com

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