John Rawls’s The Law of Peoples :: John Rawls Law Peoples Essays

John Rawlss The Law of PeoplesFrom its beginnings, Edward Saids Orientalism (1978) has produced negate in post-colonial studies. Does Professor Saids theory suggest origination-wide implications and/or strategies as Culture and Imperialism (1993) argues? Or does the East of Orientalism belong lone(prenominal) to the Middle East and particularly to Middle Eastern studies? Is there a monolithic Othering at work? Or do resistive pockets follow within Western imperial discourse? Perhaps the thorniest issue, however, concerns the stance from which to imbibe international issues of imperialism and colonization. Ethical decisionsjudgments, in a wordshould play a large part in post-colonial theorizing and critiques. notwithstanding on what basis locoweed judgments be made? Where should ac turn overability lie? And if there is accountability, how can it be enforced?Moreover, there has been a recent shift in the major(ip) players in the 21st century version of the Great Game. Said and Bhabha have, in characteristically fine ways, questioned the stability of the term nation. National identity may now be seen more as a notional identity. But does it matter any more? Does national identity even count? These questions come on the heels of global governmental reactions to global capitalistic institutions (multinational corporations) and the global political institutions wholly owned and operated by them. By global capitalist institutions, I mean organizations like Bertelsmann, Aramco, Merck, Sony, Microsoft, Daimler-Benz, and so on. By global political institutions, I refer to the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO, and the various protectors of Intellectual Property. Imperialism and colonization mustiness now be escorted at in terms of these global institutions, preferably than in political or even cultural terms. The dichotomies first world/third world, east/west, north/south, developed/underdeveloped do not hold the relevance they once had. There are thus devil issues to be faced first, how to establish a foundational basis for ethical judgments, and second, how to contemplate resistance to the new economic imperialism which has changed rather radically from the old imperialism of nation-state or region and which has rendered Samuel Huntingtons clashes of culture obsolete. Critics of both of these situations must ask where to look for guiding principles upon which to base judgments within a global context. I lack to avoid both the hegemonic westernization of democratic/capitalist values and the seemingly friendly cultural relativism that avoids any standards of ethical or political judgment.