Civilizations and World Order

Geopolitics and Cultural Difference

Foreword by Ahmet Davutoglu Contributions by Cemil Aydin, Chris Brown, Çigdem Çidam, Ahmet Davutoglu, Raymond Duvall, Richard A. Falk, Robert Gilpin, Hans Köchler President, International Progress Organization, S. Sayyid Professor of Social Theory and Decolonial Thought, University of Leeds, Georg Sørensen, Tu Weiming Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking Univers, John Welfield, Jan Zielonka Edited by Fred Dallmayr, M. Akif Kayapinar, Ismail Yaylaci

Publication date:

24 September 2014

Length of book:

276 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

233x163mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739186060

Civilizations and World Order: Geopolitics and Cultural Difference examines the role of civilizations in the context of the existing and possible world order(s) from a cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary perspective. Contributions seek to clarify the meaning of such complex and contested notions as “civilization,” “order,” and “world order”; they do so by taking into account political, economic, cultural, and philosophical dimensions of social life. The book deals with its main theme from three angles or vectors: first, the geopolitical or power-political context of civilizations; secondly, the different roles of civilizations or cultures against the backdrop of “post-coloniality” and “Orientalism”; and thirdly, the importance of ideological and regional differences as factors supporting or obstructing world order(s). All in all, the different contributions demonstrate the impact of competing civilizational trajectories on the functioning or malfunctioning of contemporary world order.

Foreword: Civilizational Revival in the Global Age
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Introduction
Fred Dallmayr, M. Akif Kayapınar and İsmail Yaylacı

Part I: Geopolitics and World Order
1. Geopolitical Turmoil and Civilizational Pluralism
Richard Falk
2. Civilization as Instrument of World Order? The Role of the Civilizational Paradigm in the Absence of a Balance of Power
Hans Köchler
3. Power in the Analysis of World Orders
Raymond Duvall and Çiğdem Çıdam
4. International Society, Cultural Diversity, and the Clash (or Dialogue) of Civilizations
Chris Brown

Part II: Eurocentrism and Cultural Difference
5.The Formative Parameters of Civilizations: A Theoretical and Historical Framework
Ahmet Davutoğlu
6.Western Democrats, Oriental Despots?
S. Sayyid
7.The Ottoman Empire and the Global Muslim Identity in the Formation of Eurocentric World Order, 1815-1919
Cemil Aydın
8.Beyond the “Enlightenment Mentality”: An Anthropocosmic Perspective
Tu Weiming

Part III: Liberalism, Global and Regional Orders
9.Globalization, Civilizations, and World Order
Robert Gilpin
10.Liberalism of Restraint and Liberalism of Imposition: Liberal Values and World Order in the New Millennium
Georg Sørensen
11.The Rise of a Neo-medieval Order in Europe
Jan Zielonka
12.Illusions, Dreams and Nightmares: Japan, the United States, and the East Asian Renaissance in the First Decade of the New Century
John Welfield

Every so often a book comes our way which challenges us to think outside the box. This rich collection of essays does just that. Each author, while reflecting his own distinctive philosophical and cultural standpoint, addresses two questions which go to the heart of our current predicament. Given the steady decline of Western political and cultural hegemony side by side with accelerating globalization, what are the prospects of constructing a relatively peaceful world order? Is civilizational difference part of the problem or part of the solution? The answers are diverse, often provocative, and invariably insightful.