Re: CHAT: The [+foreign] attribute

Quoting Andreas Johansson <and_yo@...>:

 > Thomas Wier wrote:
 > > > > What makes the US so powerful is that it is not only very wealthy,
 > > > > it is wealthy with such a large population.
 > > >
 > > > IMHO the only reason the US are so powerful. It is after all the
 > > > most populous country of the First World.
 > >
 > >I'm not sure you understand what those two facts actually mean.
 > >Great wealth means nothing more than having access to a large amount
 > >of material resources, and great population means having access to
 > >a large amount of human resources (ideas, skills, beliefs, etc. in
 > >addition to raw muscle power). "Power" for our purposes is defined
 > >as the ability to marshall material and human resources toward a
 > >particular goal.  So, when you say that the "only" reason is these
 > >two facts, you are speaking tautologously.
 >
 > You've lost me here, I'm afraid. Since when does the possession of large
 > resources, human or material, necessarily confer the ability to marshall
 > such resources towards a particular goal?

 I was considering the institutional apparatus, de jure or de facto, necessary
 to marshall said resources part of human resources.  Perhaps it might
 better to isolate that as a third criterion.  (By institution, I mean
 guidelines for acting in a given circumstance and individuals assigned
 for that purpose that are *seen* as legitimate across a given society.
 The US is by and large seen to be acting legitimately in a way that
 the EU, even with its Parliament, is not.)

 > F'rinstance, the EU has a greater population than the US, and, IIRC, a
 > similar-sized economy.

 Well, the EU has about 75 million greater population, but has an
 economy about $1.5 trillion smaller: US's $9.963 trillion to the EU's
 $8.478 trillion.

 > Yet, I don't think anybody'd claim that the EU is more powerful
 > than the US.

 Right, that's because in a real sense there is no effective institutional
 lines through which these resources can be channeled. When things get
 tough, Europeans still think and act on the nation-state level, as we
 can see in the current debate over Iraq.  The EU has been totally sidelined
 because the member states (Britain and France most vocally) aren't
 interested in ceding their foreign policy institutional capacities, such
 as an independent UN Security Council Veto.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637