CENTCOM
See: UNIFIED COMBATANT COMMAND
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS
See: THINK TANK
CENTER VERSUS PERIPHERY THEORY
A theory of the social world today which focuses on the exploitation and/or oppression of
the “peripheral” countries of the world by the “central” dominant countries. It sometimes
seems that the purpose of using this terminology is to avoid the word ‘imperialism’.
See also:
DEPENDENCY THEORY,
NORTH VS. SOUTH THEORY,
Samir AMIN
CENTRAL BANK
See: BANK,
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA)
The most important of the many intelligence and covert operations agencies of the United
States government. It is notorious for overthrowing elected governments in other countries
(such as in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954), for assassinations, torture and virtually
every other crime that can be thought of, all in the service of U.S. imperialism.
The CIA is also notorious for its
incompetence and stupidity when it comes to actually gathering intelligence! (It failed to
foresee the collapse of the revisionist Soviet Union or the 9/11 attack by Al Qaeda, for
example.)
The death toll incurred by CIA activities
and by governments that have been installed with the help of the CIA runs into the millions,
with covert operations ranging from Indochina, Indonesia, Latin America and Africa which
include horrific episodes of torture and political persecution. A recurring CIA specialty
seems to be to support forces that later turn against the U.S. government and that must
then be “neutralized”. (This phenomenon is part of the more general category known as
“blowback”.)
CIA activities are occasionally
“investigated” when some information about them comes to light, with some minor reforms or
reprimands enacted. But these are at most cosmetic and invariably totally ineffective, as
demonstrated by the revelations of still more nefarious activity later on. The CIA has been
nicknamed “Capitalism’s International Army” (among other more unflattering titles, like
“Cocaine Import Agency”, for its purported role in starting the inner-city “crack” cocaine
epidemic) and the operatives of the agency (at least of its covert activities wing) are highly
indoctrinated servants of American capitalism who see themselves as its guardians. The CIA
is currently involved in activities throughout the Middle East and the Horn of Africa,
where it is busy trying to subdue local Islamist militias and terrorist groups (i.e., those
who threaten U.S. strategic designs on the region). One particularly ugly aspect of this
activity is the kidnap and torture flights known as “renditions”,
where suspects are flown to countries where torture is routinely practiced. —L.C.; S.H.
CENTRAL ORGANIZING THEORY
All theories in science are constructed for the purpose of organizing and explaining a
diverse group of data, and as such all theories may be viewed as organizing
theories. However, in any specific sphere of science there is usually one central theory,
or at least only a very few such theories, without which the whole subject has little
coherency and makes little overall sense. This is what we mean by a central organizing
theory. In biology, for example, the theory (or fact) of evolution is often
appropriately considered to be the central organizing theory. In geophysics, the theory
of plate tectonics is now the central organizing theory. In the science of revolutionary
Marxism the central organizing theory is historical
materialism.
CENTRISM
[In Marxist usage:] Views and positions which attempt to find a “middle ground” between
revolutionary Marxism, on the one hand, and liberalism or
revisionism, on the other hand. In other words, centrism
is in practice usually a weaselly form of revisionism itself.
It should be noted, however, that merely
from the fact that one holds a view which is in between two extremes, it does not follow
that one is a “centrist” in the Marxist sense. For example, revolutionary Marxism itself
holds a view in between pacificism and the sort of wild-eyed anarchism that views
violence as always being appropriate, no matter what the circumstances.
See also:
IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE—Within
the Revolutionary Movement [Lenin quote]
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