After Terror E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 335

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

After Terror presents sustained reflections by some of the world's most celebrated thinkers on the most pressing question of our time: how can we find ways to defuse the ticking bombs of terrorism and excessive interventions against it? It offers an antidote to the fatalistic global holy war perspective that afflicts much contemporary thought, focusing instead on the principles, issues, and acts needed to shift course from alienation and conflict to a path of sanity and goodwill among cultures and civilizations. The central aim of the book is to advance contemporary thinking on the causes and implications of 9/11 and thus provide the essential elements of a blueprint for humanity. It features 28 original essays by some of the world's leading public figures, scholars, and religious leaders, including Benjamin Barber, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Amitai Etzioni, Bernard Lewis, Martin Marty, Queen Noor, Joseph Nye, Judea Pearl, Jonathan Sacks, Ravi Shankar, Bishop Desmond Tutu, E.O. Wilson and James D. Wolfensohn. After Terror attests to the power of dialogue and mutual understanding and the possibility of tolerance, respect, cooperation, and commitment. Without ignoring the dangers of the modern world, it points to a future in which people can celebrate both the fundamental sentiments and interests that we share and the diversities that make us human.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Contributor Biographies in Brief

Part I: Introduction

1 Toward a More Civil Twenty-first Century

Central Themes Raised in the Essays

The Imperative of Action

Part II: The Nature and Sources of the Problem

2 The Simple Power of Weakness, the Complex Vulnerability of Power

The Dangers of Demagogy

The Power of Weakness

From Domination to Leadership

3 Dialogue and the Echo Boom of Terror: Religious Women’s Voices after 9/11

4 Closing Chapters of Enmity

September 11 and its Aftermath

The West and Islam

A Final Word: Dialogue on Kashmir

5 Benjamin Franklin’s Gift of Tolerance

6 God’s Word and World Politics

The Persistence of Religious Faith of Some Sort

The Worth of Faiths

Conclusion

Part III: Pathways to Dialogue and Understanding

7 The Role of the Media in Promoting Tolerance

8 Civilization, Human Rights, and Collective Responsibility

What is Civilization?

Globalization, Poverty, and Collective Apathy

The Universality of Human Rights

Corporate Citizenship and Globalism from Below

Toward a Higher Civilization

9 Endless Enemies or Human Security

The New Global Enemy

Is Endless War the Best Answer?

10 Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures

11 Transnational Moral Dialogues

12 In Other People’s Shoes

13 A Universal Language, without Boundary or Prejudice

14 Dialogue among Civilizations

15 The Productive Airing of Grievances

16 All of Man’s Troubles

17 Turning Enemies into Friends

Is Religion Primarily a Source of Conflict?

Conversation as Prayer

From Conflict and Violence to Reconciliation and Peace

18 Security through Dialogue

19 The Power of Dialogue: Redefining “Us”

The Ahmed–Pearl Dialogues

Expanding the Power of Dialogue

20 On Clash, Morality, Renaissance, and Dialogue

21 The Just War Tradition and Cultural Dialogue

22 Celebrating Differences on our Melting Pot Planet

Part IV: From Concern to Action

23 Clash or Dialogue of Cultures?

24 The Fellowship of Dialogue

From Dialogue to Action

Different Religions, Common Purpose

One Family: Humanity

25 Hard Power and Soft Power

26 Global Governance in an Interdependent World

Declaration of Interdependence

27 Getting to Peace: Awakening the Third Side

The Challenge

The Potential for Transforming Conflict

The Third Side

Peace is Possible, If . . . 

28 Risking Hospitality

Index

Copyright this collection © Polity Press 2005

All chapters copyright Polity Press 2005, except chapter 2, © Zbigniew Brzezinski, this essay was first published in Zbigniew Brzezinski’s book The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership (New York: Basic Books 2004); chapter 6, © Archbishop Desmond Tutu, this essay is based on a lecture delivered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the United Nations on 17 March 2004; chapter 7, © Shashi Tharoor, an earlier version of this article appeared in Human Security for All: A Tribute to Sergio Vieira de Mello ed. Kevin M. Cahill M.D. (New York: Fordham University Press and the Center for International Health and Co-operation, 2004); chapter 8, © Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, this essay is based on a speech made by Sergio Vieira de Mello in London in December 2002; chapter 14, © Kofi Annan, the article by the Secretary-General is based on speeches from 2001; chapter 26 © Benjamin R. Barber.

First published in 2005 by Polity Press

Polity Press

65 Bridge Street

Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK.

Polity Press

350 Main Street

Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 0-7456-3501-6

ISBN: 0-7456-3502-4 (pb)

ISBN: 978-07456-5786-8 (epub)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library and has been applied for from the Library of Congress.

To our grandchildren:

Graham, Ibrahim, Mina, and Samuel,

with love

Acknowledgments

The editors wish to thank several people who contributed to this book. First, our students, who are the primary reason for our coming together in the first place to engage on such matters. In particular, the enthusiasm and commitment of David Dore, Lenora Fisher, Vassia Gueorguieva, Adam Lankford, and Matthew Powell to the project confirmed our confidence in the judgment and spirit of today’s student, especially in working to put the prin- ciples of dialogue on the ground in the Washington, DC, area. Our colleagues at American University and our deans, Louis Goodman, Dean of the School of International Service, and William M. LeoGrande, Dean of the School of Public Affairs, were sup- portive and generous in offering helpful suggestions along the way, as were Dean of Academic Affairs Ivy Broder and Provost Neil Kerwin for their support for the development of a confer- ence to promote the ideas presented in these essays. President Benjamin Ladner’s global vision for American University created an especially receptive atmosphere for this project.

We wish also to thank our publisher, Polity Press, and especially Louise Knight for appreciating the concept and shepherding it through the initial editorial process, Andrea Drugan and Sarah Dancy for helping to manage the processes that followed, and Jean van Altena for editing the manuscript in a thoroughly professional and thoughtful manner.

Our greatest debt of gratitude is to the contributing essayists. In making commitments to support and own a vision for a more book. It was reassuring to receive this support for the enterprise from such extraordinary people, fascinating to see how each essayist responded to the challenge, and exhilarating to absorb the breadth of their contributions.

Last, not least, we are deeply in the debt of our wives, Judith Forst and Zeenat Ahmed, who have once more indulged us in a project of yet again utmost urgency. Our appreciation for their unwavering support, love, and patience cannot be adequately expressed or sufficiently compensated. They made possible the birth and nurturance of our children and, in turn, their children, to whom we dedicate this book – and to grandchildren every- where. We hope and intend that they will have the good judg- ment to steward humankind in a better direction than has our generation.

Contributor Biographies in Brief

Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations at American University, Washington, DC. He is former high commissioner (ambassador) of Pakistan to the United Kingdom (1999–2000), a distinguished anthropologist, filmmaker, and the author of numerous articles and books on contemporary Islam, including Islam under Siege (Polity, 2003) and Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society (Routledge, 1988), which was the basis of the BBC six-part TV series, “Living Islam.” His Postmodernism and Islam: Predicament and Promise (Routledge, 1992) was nominated for the Amalfi Award, and his book Islam Today: A Short Intro- duction to the Muslim World (I. B. Tauris, 1999) was awarded best nonfiction book of the year by the Los Angeles Times, and his “Jinnah Quartet,” a four-part project on Pakistan’s founding father, M. A. Jinnah, has won numerous international awards. He has been actively involved in interfaith dialogue and the study of global Islam and its impact on contemporary society. Dr Ahmed has co-edited several books, including The Future of Anthropology: Its Relevance to the Contemporary World (Athlone, 1995). Prior to coming to American University, Dr Ahmed was visiting professor and Stewart Fellow in Humanities at Princeton University and held appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study at Prince- ton, Harvard University, and Cambridge University, where for five years he was the Iqbal Fellow. He is the recipient of the Star of Excellence in Pakistan and the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal given by the Royal Society of Asian Affairs in London. He was recently appointed Trustee of the World Faiths Development Dialogue by the Archbishop of Canterbury and received the 2002 Free Speech Award from the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, DC. He received the PhD degree in anthropology from the University of London. He was named 2004 District of Columbia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.