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| The Hindu Newspaper Editorial Vocabulary : 03-December-2018 |
Symbol of a lost order: On George H.W. Bush
George H.W. Bush saw in the post-Cold War era, and also the lost promise of that moment
The passing of George H.W. Bush, the
41st President of the United States, from 1989 to 1993, is an occasion to
contextualise the current turbulence in the world, especially in liberal
democracies. Three events — the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin Wall and
the dissolution of the Soviet Union — that occurred on his watch set in motion
a global churn that remains with us. It was his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, who
gave a rhetorical flourish to America’s pursuit of global dominance in the
1980s with his depiction of the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”, and his call
to “break that wall”. Bush, his Vice President and then successor, was not
known for any rousing oratory, but one phrase he coined, a “new world order”,
turned out to be defining, initially for its triumph, and now for its decline.
“A new era, freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of
justice, and more secure in the quest for peace… Today that new world is
struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we’ve known,” he
said before the war that evicted Saddam Hussein’s invading army from Kuwait.
His address in 1990 before a joint session of Congress was on September 11, a
date that would become a haunting symbol of the world that we now live in, new
but not in the manner that Bush had hoped.
Bush lived to see the unravelling of
the world order and the concomitant turmoil. It is no coincidence that
nationalists such as President Donald Trump define their politics as a
rejection of the order that led their societies for the “last 30 years”. Colin Powell
and Dick Cheney, American war enthusiasts who shaped its 43rd
President George W. Bush’s bravado and arrogance, and contributed to his
ignorance, rose to prominence during Bush Sr.’s presidency. He was also
criticised for overlooking Pakistan’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and neglecting
Afghanistan in the years that followed the withdrawal of the Soviets. But
connecting him to his son’s follies, the relative decline of America and the
disorder in the world offers only a limited explanation of our times, besides
being unfair to Bush’s legacy. Bush, the last World War veteran to become U.S.
President, represented a bygone era. He sought the middle ground and consensus
in domestic and international politics, built alliances, restrained his words
in moments of triumph, had an introspective streak on the U.S. economic model,
and tried to appreciate the aspirations of other countries. He sent handwritten
notes to people and lamented how moderation had become a bad word. But change
was on the horizon. After him, conservative politics in the U.S., including
that led by his son, took a strident turn. It is not surprising that he did not
deny reports that he did not vote for Mr. Trump in 2016.
01. Contextualise
(verb) – study, review, investigate (in context).
02. Turbulence
(noun) – turmoil, confusion, conflict.
03. Dissolution
(noun) – cessation, termination, suspension.
04. Watch
(noun) – stint, spell, period.
05. Set
in motion (idiom) – to begin something, start, activate, initiate.
06. Churn
(noun) – disorder, confusion, mess up.
07. Rhetorical
(adjective) – bombastic, oratorical, high-sounding/extravagant.
08. Flourish
(noun) – succeed, progress, prosper.
09. Pursuit
(noun) – goal, objective, aim.
10. Depiction
(noun) – portrayal, representation, presentation.
11. Oratory
(noun) – rhetoric, eloquence, public speaking.
12. New
world order (noun) – In 1990, George Bush Senior had coined this (elusive)
phrase. It is most frequently used to describe aspects of the post Cold War
international scenario where the rule of law governs the conduct of nations
(with balance of power, economic interdependence & etc among sovereign
states). The aim of it to be a unipolar world without rivals (one-world super
Government and a one-world economy).
13. Invading
(verb) – conquer, capture, seize.
14. Haunting
(adjective) – evocative, affecting, touching.
15. Unravelling
(noun) – unfolding, solving, resolving.
16. Concomitant
(adjective) – associated, related, connected.
17. Bravado
(noun) – boldness, bold manner, bombast/daredevil.
18. Ignorance
(noun) – unawareness, inexperience, lack of knowledge.
19. Overlooking
(verb) – disregard, pay no attention to, ignore/discount.
20. Follies
(noun) – foolishness, thoughtlessness, lack of foresight.
21. Legacy
(noun) – footprint, effect/outcome (something received from a predecessor or
from the past).
22. Veteran
(noun) – (long-serving) expert, mature established/experienced person in an
area of activity.
23. Bygone
(adjective) – previous, earlier, ancient.
24. Middle
ground (noun) – agreement, understanding, settlement.
25. Consensus
(noun) – agreement, harmony, concurrence.
26. Introspective
(adjective) – inward-looking, self-analysing, self-observing.
27. Streak
(noun) – element, vein, trace.
28. Lamented
(verb) – mourn/grieve; complain about/regret.
29. Moderation
(noun) – self-restraint, temperance, leniency/fairness.
30. On
the horizon (phrase) – imminent, impending, approaching.
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