Rise of the Liberal Colossus - by Carl Boggs (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

To speak of a modern Liberal Colossus conjures nothing less than the largest power structure the world has ever known. A distinctly (but not entirely) American phenomenon, this sprawling network of economic interests, political forces, and cultural influences revolves around four organically interconnected sectors - a domestic corporate oligarchy, authoritarian state apparatus, military-industrial complex, and (now in process) a reconstituted liberal (or "neoliberal") world order. Going back to the watershed presidency of Woodrow Wilson at the time of World War I, the overarching ideology that defines, legitimates, and sustains this Colossus has been one variant of liberalism, more precisely a combination of corporate and global liberalism. For the past century the main pillars of this power structure have been continuously reinforced by great scientific and technological innovations in the economy, government, and military as well the international system. If ambitious planning within the World Economic Forum and other global institutions manages to achieve its unprecedented goals, that system will expand further -- toward what has been described as the Great Reset. This would be a global tyranny based on increasingly concentrated (and integrated) economic and governmental power. Here, in The Rise of the Liberal Colossus, Carl Boggs systematically explores the history, politics, and ideology of this frightening development, the biggest threat in modern times to the future of democratic society.

After receiving his Ph.D. from U.C., Berkeley in 1970, Carl Boggs taught at Washington University in St. Louis and then at UCLA, USC, Carleton University in Ottawa, and Antioch University, Los Angeles before concluding his career at National University in Los Angeles, focusing on the education of working adults. He participated in the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, among other activities, and then was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement. Involved in the work of several magazines and journals, he was instrumental in bringing the work of Antonio Gramsci to America, and with it the crucial motif of cultural revolution which he explored in two books and several articles. Since the mid-1970s he has written another 24 books, including ten on topics related to U.S. foreign and military policy along with several on ecological politics. Since 2000 he has been a regular contributor to the online journal CounterPunch. He has also contributed, in writing and presentations (including several plenary talks) to the Global Studies Association based in Chicago. In 2007 he was recipient of a Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association.

"Carl Boggs provides a sweeping historical and political treatise on the origins of the imperial state and its grounding in the liberal paradigm. The trajectory of global destruction begins begins, as Professor Boggs recounts, with the era of World War I and its aftermath and escalates to the present day under the regime of a global corporate order that has brought the world to the precipice of ecological and military disaster."

-- Professor Gerald Sussman, Global Studies, Portland State University