When you ask most people "Who rules the world?" they usually point to a map. They talk about the United States, China, or maybe the European Union if they’re feeling optimistic about Brussels. But if you’ve ever sat down with Noam Chomsky’s work, specifically his 2016 powerhouse Who Rules the World, you know that’s basically just looking at the surface of a very deep, very murky pond.
It's not just about countries. Honestly, it’s about who owns the countries.
Chomsky has this way of cutting through the patriotic noise to show us that the real players aren't always the ones we see on the nightly news. He argues that we’re living in a world where the "masters of mankind"—a phrase he borrowed from Adam Smith—call the shots. Back in Smith's day, it was the merchants and manufacturers of England. Today? It’s the multinational corporations, the massive financial institutions, and the lobbyists who write the laws that the rest of us have to live by.
The Illusion of State Power
We like to think of states as these unified blocks. We say "The U.S. wants this" or "China did that." Chomsky says that’s a mistake. He points out that states have internal structures that are often totally disconnected from the people living in them.
Think about it.
Most of the time, the general population is basically marginalized. You’ve probably felt it yourself—the sense that no matter who you vote for, the big economic policies never really change. Chomsky backs this up by referencing studies, like the one by Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, which showed that average citizens have "minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact" on public policy. Meanwhile, the economic elites? They get whatever they want.
This isn't just a "left vs. right" thing either. Chomsky is famously unsparing toward both sides. He’s actually often harder on liberals like JFK or Obama because he thinks they provide a "polite" mask for the same imperialist machinery. He looks at the "Grand Area" strategy developed during World War II, where U.S. planners basically decided the entire Western Hemisphere, the Far East, and the former British Empire should be subordinated to the needs of the American economy.
That wasn't a conspiracy theory. It was a literal plan.
The Vile Maxim and the Global Commons
There’s a concept in Noam Chomsky Who Rules the World that really sticks in your throat: the "vile maxim."
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Adam Smith described it as "All for ourselves and nothing for other people." Chomsky argues this is the driving force behind modern neoliberalism. We’re told that "free trade" agreements like the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) are about helping everyone, but Chomsky calls them what they actually are: investor-rights agreements. They’re negotiated in secret by corporate lawyers, and by the time the public sees them, they’re fast-tracked through Congress with almost no debate.
It’s kinda wild when you think about it.
We’re seeing the "global commons"—things like a stable climate and a world without nuclear weapons—being sacrificed for short-term profit. Chomsky spends a lot of time on the "Doomsday Clock." He’s genuinely terrified that between the threat of nuclear war and the climate crisis, we’re heading for a cliff. And the people at the wheel? They’re too busy looking at next quarter’s earnings to hit the brakes.
Why the U.S. is Still the "First Among Unequals"
Even though Chomsky talks about American decline, he’s quick to remind us that the U.S. is still the heavyweight champion of global influence. We might not have half the world’s wealth like we did in 1945, but we still set the terms of the conversation.
Take the "War on Terror."
Chomsky doesn't shy away from calling the U.S. a "leading terrorist state." He points to the drone program—which he calls a "global assassination campaign"—and the history of U.S. intervention in places like Iran (the 1953 coup) and Nicaragua. His point is that we judge other countries by their actions, but we judge ourselves by our "professed intentions." We say we want to spread democracy, even when we’re propping up dictators who are friendly to our business interests.
The Second Superpower: You
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Sorta.
Chomsky talks about "the second superpower." This isn't another country; it's world public opinion. He’s seen it happen before—the way the anti-war movement during Vietnam eventually forced the government’s hand, or how the civil rights movement changed the fabric of the country.
He believes that the "masters of mankind" are actually quite afraid of the public. That’s why there’s so much effort put into "manufacturing consent." If people really knew what was being done in their name, they wouldn't stand for it.
The real answer to "who rules the world" isn't a single person or a single country. It’s a system of concentrated wealth and power that relies on our passivity to keep running.
Moving Past the Headlines
If you're tired of the "team sports" version of politics where everyone just screams at each other, Chomsky is a breath of fresh air—even if it's a cold, harsh one. He asks us to look at the world as if we were an objective observer from another planet.
What would we see?
We’d see a species that is technically advanced enough to solve almost all its problems but is instead pouring its resources into weapons of mass destruction and destroying its own habitat. We’d see a tiny elite getting unimaginably rich while the majority of the population feels a "mood of angry impotence."
So, what do we actually do with this?
- Audit your information diet. Stop just consuming the "approved" narratives from major corporate outlets. Look for independent media and primary sources.
- Stop falling for the "Great Man" theory of history. It’s not just about who is in the White House. It’s about the institutional structures that remain the same regardless of who’s sitting in the Oval Office.
- Engage in local "un-glamorous" activism. Chomsky often says that real change comes from the ground up. It’s the slow, boring work of organizing, labor unions, and community groups that actually shifts the needle.
- Challenge the "double standard." When you hear a politician condemn another country’s actions, ask yourself: "Would we accept this same standard if it were applied to us?"
The world is ruled by those we allow to rule it. It sounds like a cliché, but Chomsky spends 300+ pages proving that the only thing keeping the current system in place is the belief that there's no alternative.
You can start by simply refusing to believe that. Read the book, look at the footnotes, and decide for yourself if the "masters of mankind" really have your best interests at heart. They probably don't. But knowing how the game is played is the first step toward changing the rules.
To get a better handle on these systems, look into the history of the 1953 Iranian Coup or the 1973 Chilean Coup. These aren't just history lessons; they are the blueprints for how global power is actually exercised when "independent nationalism" threatens the bottom line of the masters. Understanding these specific events makes the abstract theories in Who Rules the World feel a lot more real.