Debating civilisations

Debating civilisations

Author: Jeremy C. A. Smith

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2017-06-24

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1526105306

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This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) open access license. Debating civilisations offers an up-to-date evaluation of the re-emerging field of civilisational analysis, tracing its main currents and comparing it to rival paradigms such as Marxism, globalisation theory and postcolonial sociology. The book suggests that civilisational analysis offers an alternative approach to understanding globalisation, one that focuses on the dense engagement of societies, cultures, empires and civilisations in human history. Building on Castoriadis’s theory of social imaginaries, it argues that civilisations are best understood as the products of routine contacts and connections carried out by anonymous actors over the course of long periods of time. It illustrates this argument through case studies of modern Japan, the Pacific and post-Conquest Latin America (including the revival of indigenous civilisations), exploring discourses of civilisation outside the West within the context of growing Western imperial power.


Perspectives

Perspectives

Author: Joseph T. Stuart

Publisher:

Published: 2019-08

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 9781935306702

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Six classroom-tested debates are featured in this innovative sourcebook. Built on primary documents, each debate asks students to step into the shoes of historical characters and argue for a position. As author Joseph T. Stuart says in the Introduction, "Debates have proven to be among the most successful tools in my experience as an instructor to encourage students to work with primary sources." The book includes 3 debates from the pre-1500 period and 3 from the post-1500 period, plus a debate rubric, and post-debate questions and activities. Also included are the full texts of 40 primary sources utilized during the debate process. This sourcebook is suitable for high school and college courses in World Civilization/History and Western Civilization.


The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

Author: Samuel P. Huntington

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2007-05-31

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1416561242

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The classic study of post-Cold War international relations, more relevant than ever in the post-9/11 world, with a new foreword by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Since its initial publication, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order has become a classic work of international relations and one of the most influential books ever written about foreign affairs. An insightful and powerful analysis of the forces driving global politics, it is as indispensable to our understanding of American foreign policy today as the day it was published. As former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says in his new foreword to the book, it “has earned a place on the shelf of only about a dozen or so truly enduring works that provide the quintessential insights necessary for a broad understanding of world affairs in our time.” Samuel Huntington explains how clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. Events since the publication of the book have proved the wisdom of that analysis. The 9/11 attacks and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated the threat of civilizations but have also shown how vital international cross-civilization cooperation is to restoring peace. As ideological distinctions among nations have been replaced by cultural differences, world politics has been reconfigured. Across the globe, new conflicts—and new cooperation—have replaced the old order of the Cold War era. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order explains how the population explosion in Muslim countries and the economic rise of East Asia are changing global politics. These developments challenge Western dominance, promote opposition to supposedly “universal” Western ideals, and intensify intercivilization conflict over such issues as nuclear proliferation, immigration, human rights, and democracy. The Muslim population surge has led to many small wars throughout Eurasia, and the rise of China could lead to a global war of civilizations. Huntington offers a strategy for the West to preserve its unique culture and emphasizes the need for people everywhere to learn to coexist in a complex, multipolar, muliticivilizational world.


The Clash of Civilizations?

The Clash of Civilizations?

Author: Samuel P. Huntington

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 9780876094341

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In 1993, Samuel P. Huntington boldly asserted in the pages of Foreign Affairs that world politics was entering a new phase, one in which cultural differences in religion, history, language, and tradition were replacing Cold War tensions and would soon become the world's fundamental points of conflict. Huntington's striking thesis elicited both criticism and praise from the media and political experts around the world. More than a decade later, "The Clash of Civilizations?" continues to be a touchstone in global politics as writers passionately debate its merits and propose counter theories of their own. This collection presents Samuel Huntington's original, seminal essay followed by critical responses published in Foreign Affairs, including the author's reply to his critics and contemporary additions to the enduring question of how to understand world conflict. In this second edition, fresh contributions make The Clash of Civilizations?: The Debate newly relevant to students of International Relations and Political Science.


The Burke-Wollstonecraft Debate

The Burke-Wollstonecraft Debate

Author: Daniel I. O'Neill

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2010-11

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0271047526

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Many modern conservatives and feminists trace the roots of their ideologies, respectively, to Edmund Burke (1729-1797) and Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797). Here, according to the author Burke is misconstrued if viewed as mainly providing a warning about the dangers of attempting to turn utopian visions into political reality.


Capitalism As Civilisation

Capitalism As Civilisation

Author: Ntina Tzouvala

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-10-29

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1108497187

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Using the theoretical tools drawn from historical materialism and deconstruction, Tzouvala offers a comprehensive history of the standard of civilisation.


Energy and Civilization

Energy and Civilization

Author: Vaclav Smil

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2018-11-13

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 0262536161

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A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.


Civilisations, Civilising Processes and Modernity – A Debate

Civilisations, Civilising Processes and Modernity – A Debate

Author: Artur Bogner

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-02-28

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 3030803791

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In 1984, the celebrated sociologist and historian Norbert Elias convened a major conference on ‘Civilisations and civilising processes’ at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (University of Bielefeld). Participants included the most distinguished and influential scholars in historical sociology and world history. This book will make available, for the first time in one place, the papers presented by the speakers and, even more interestingly, the transcripts of discussions at the symposium. This conference brought together eminent and internationally reputed scholars of macro-history and historical sociology including Johann P. Arnason, Elias, Hans-Dieter Evers, Johan Goudsblom, Keith Hopkins, William H. McNeill, and Immanuel Wallerstein. This highly informative encounter between various leading scholars of humanity’s global social history has never before been published, although it was completely recorded on paper and in tape recordings. Its publication in one volume should be an important event for all students of the long-term structural transformations of humanity.


Civilization

Civilization

Author: Niall Ferguson

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2011-11-01

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1101548029

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From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower “A dazzling history of Western ideas.” —The Economist “Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.” —Wall Street Journal “[W]ritten with vitality and verve . . . a tour de force.” —Boston Globe Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.