Two leading actors in the modern world-system — Donald Trump and Theresa May of England — sound like broken records. They say the same thing each time they talk, knowing full well that their case is extremely weak.
Why have they done this? They have no better choice if they wish to remain leading actors. They are cheating, asserting that they are proposing something possible. In fact, it is the opposite. They are asserting as possible their ability to alter a situation, one that is virtually impossible to change.
More and more people come to understand what is happening. They see that they no longer participate in decisions. They react by withdrawing from participation at all. This withdrawal in turn alters the situation in a way that is not friendly to leading actors.
Why do the leading actors do this? They do this because there is no better alternative.
So, what is the bottom line for all of us? We can at most guess the possibilities, but there is no way we can be absolutely certain of knowing what will happen.
Immanuel Wallerstein, Senior Research Scholar at Yale University, is the author of The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World (New Press).
Copyright ©2019 Immanuel Wallerstein — distributed by Agence Global
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Released: 01 June 2019
Word Count: 179
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