Second Superpower - Popularization As A Description of Popular Opinion

Popularization As A Description of Popular Opinion

The New York Times article was widely circulated in the peace movement during February 2003, adding to the hope among many participants that galvanizing world public opinion could prevent the Iraq War.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan began to use the phrase "two superpowers" in speeches. In March, "The Nation" magazine cover story was titled "The Other Superpower". In it, Jonathan Schell wrote:

The new superpower possesses immense power, but it is a different kind of power: not the will of one man wielding the 21,000-pound MOAB but the hearts and wills of the majority of the world's people.

Though worldwide popular opposition failed to prevent the invasion of Iraq, leading some to reject the notion, the phrase is still popular among people in the anti-war and anti-globalization movements.

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Famous quotes containing the words description, popular and/or opinion:

    It is possible—indeed possible even according to the old conception of logic—to give in advance a description of all ‘true’ logical propositions. Hence there can never be surprises in logic.
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)

    For those that love the world serve it in action,
    Grow rich, popular and full of influence,
    And should they paint or write, still it is action:
    The struggle of the fly in marmalade.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, it afterward persists by itself, needing no effort to maintain it since no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false come in the end to adopt it as accepted, and even those who still at the bottom of their hearts oppose it keep their views to themselves, taking great care to avoid a dangerous and futile contest.
    Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)