| Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder Updated & Expan Edition Contributor(s): Achcar, Gilbert (Author) |
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ISBN: 1594513082 ISBN-13: 9781594513084 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $247.00 Product Type: Hardcover Published: July 2006 Annotation: The London bombings of July 7th, 2005, revived the debates that raged after 9/11. What relation did they bear to the foreign and war policies of the United Kingdom and the United States? Were they symptoms of a ???cultural clash??? between deep-seated ???values??? or signs of a social crisis at the root of the ongoing conflict? How should we analyze the present-day emergence of fanatical forms of Islamic fundamentalism?The title of the book alludes to the famous thesis on the ???Clash of Civilizations.??? Achcar develops a counterthesis, namely that the clashes we are witnessing do not oppose civilizations, but their dark sides. Each civilization produces a specific form of barbarism, which tends to take over in periods of crisis. Accordingly, the Bush administration doesn???t embody the values of Western civilization nor does Islamic fanaticism of the al-Qa???ida type represent Islamic civilization. The clash between them is a ???clash of barbarisms??? in which the main culprit remains the most powerful.The war of aggression and occupation in Iraq led to blatant manifestations of Western barbarism, most strikingly epitomized by the torture at Abu Ghraib, and inevitably nurtured fanatical Islamic and other counterbarbarisms. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | International Relations - General - Political Science | Terrorism - Political Science | Security (national & International) |
| Dewey: 303.482 |
| LCCN: 2006012652 |
| Physical Information: 0.76" H x 5.96" W x 8.48" (0.73 lbs) 192 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: "This inquiry into the probable shape of things to come is sober, uncompromising, deeply informed, and full of provocative insights and judicious analyses." Noam Chomsky "The most forceful, most rigorous text that there is to read on this war." Le Monde Diplomatique The volatile Middle East is the site of vast resources, profound passions, frequent crises, and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct U.S. intervention. Two of the most astute analysts of this part of the world are Noam Chomsky, the preeminent critic of U.S. foreign policy, and Gilbert Achcar, a leading specialist of the Middle East who lived in that region for many years. In their new book, Chomsky and Achcar bring a keen understanding of the internal dynamics of the Middle East and of the role of the United States, taking up all the key questions of interest to concerned citizens, including such topics as terrorism, fundamentalism, conspiracies, oil, democracy, self-determination, anti-Semitism, and anti-Arab racism, as well as the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the sources of U.S. foreign policy. This book provides the best readable introduction for all who wish to understand the complex issues related to the Middle East from a perspective dedicated to peace and justice. |