"It's hard to imagine any American reading this book and not seeing his country in a new, and deeply troubling, light." —The New York Times Book Review The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene militarily against "failed states" around the globe. In this much-anticipated follow-up to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, showing how the United States itself shares features with other failed states—suffering from a severe "democratic deficit," eschewing domestic and international law, and adopting policies that increasingly endanger its own citizens and the world. Exploring the latest developments in U.S. foreign and domestic policy, Chomsky reveals Washington's plans to further militarize the planet, greatly increasing the risks of nuclear war. He also assesses the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; documents Washington's self-exemption from international norms, including the Geneva conventions and the Kyoto Protocol; and examines how the U.S. electoral system is designed to eliminate genuine political alternatives, impeding any meaningful democracy. Forceful, lucid, and meticulously documented, Failed States offers a comprehensive analysis of a global superpower that has long claimed the right to reshape other nations while its own democratic institutions are in severe crisis. Systematically dismantling the United States' pretense of being the world's arbiter of democracy, Failed States is Chomsky's most focused—and urgent—critique to date.

チョムスキーの筆致は、冷徹な論理で築かれた苛烈な知的建築物です。本作の真髄は、他国を断罪する「失敗国家」の概念を、鏡のように米国自身へ突きつける大胆な転換にあります。民主主義の空洞化を暴く語り口は、私たちが信じてきた世界の構造を根底から揺さぶり、言葉がいかに権力に独占されてきたかを鮮烈に照らし出します。 本書は、現代を覆う欺瞞を剥ぎ取る「覚醒の書」です。強大な帝国の内側に潜む機能不全を解剖する知の巨人の警鐘は、私たちが享受する自由の正体を鋭く問い直します。世界の行方を案じる魂を激しく揺さぶり、真実を見る勇気を与える、極めて緊急性の高い傑作です。