Chomsky on the Nation-State and Corporations

August 28, 2005
Noam Chomsky is a truly unique public figure. It seems that no matter what he talks about, he offers some amazing insight that nobody else has or expresses. His willingness to be controversial is a ray of light in this world of public figures tiptoeing around worrying that what they say could hurt their career. Writings and interviews of Chomsky are regularly featured on ZNet, and I have linked to some of his stuff in the past.

Today I would like to bring to your attention an interview in which he discusses the development of the nation-state and its relation to the corporate world. Asked his ideas about the beginnings of the nation-state, Chomsky replied:

"Well, the nation state is pretty much a European invention, I mean there were similar things, but the nation state in the modern form was largely created in Europe over many centuries. It's so unnatural and artificial that it had to be imposed by extreme violence. In fact that's the primary reason why Europe was the most savage part of the world for centuries. It was due to trying to impose a nation state system on cultures and societies that are varied and if you look at them had no relation to this artificial structure."

How does the corporate system fit into this? Chomsky:

"It's impossible to distinguish the modern dominant states from the multinational corporate system, the conglomerates that rely on them, that have a relation of both dependency and domination to them."

I urge you to check out the rest of this fascinating interview of Chomsky where he explores the relationship between the corporation and the state and the many implications of the current set-up.