Chomsky and the State

Abstract

Chomsky's work focuses its uncompromising gaze upon the American state. He exposes the self-interested, and for the privileged few, the powerful and often brutal nature of a state's international relations. The internal and external roles of states can be seen to be intimately linked. This paper argues that to define a state by considering only its internal relations is to misrepresent it. If we give equal attention to the international dimensions of a state's actions then distinctions between democratic and fascist states become blurred. It is also possible to challenge the Marxist assumption that a state only becomes ‘Bonapartist’ during an interregnum.