The ‘‘Ahmadinejad effect’’ and ‘‘pre-emptive’’ duties and rights

Abstract

Globalization has made possible the Ahmadinejad effect, where minor actors on the world stage can rise to prominence and solidify their power base at home by posing realistic threats to the security of even distant lands. The case of Ahmadinejad, as with Saddam Hussein before, raises the issue of pre-emptive duties (and rights), what is owed to others toward upholding rights that could be threatened sometime in the future. Pre-emptive duties and rights are given importance based on psychological assumptions about how people would behave if certain conditions were to come about. For example, checks and balances in the United States constitution are intended to prevent the concentration of power, on the assumption, supported by recent psychological research, that ‘‘power corrupts.’’ The concentration of power in the United States at the global level, and in the executive branch of the American government during the presidency of George W. Bush, seems to reflect this demonstrated tendency.