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Based on the author's long experience in academic life and the public realm, especially in foreign policy, this book argues that a single categoric classification of cities is inadequate, and that cities have had different and varied impacts and positions throughout the history of civilization.
List of contents
Preface Part I. Intellectual Experiences and Methodological Framework 1. Introduction: Intellectual Background 2. Critical Analysis of City Historiography: A Methodological Framework Part II. The Role of Pivot Cities in the History of Civilizations 3. Civilization-Founding Pivot Cities: Pioneering Cities 4. Pivot Cities Founded by a Civilization: The Rise of Cities as Political Centers after the Formation of a Civilizational Paradigm 5. Pivot Cities Transplanted During the Formation of Civilizations: Alexandrian, Ottoman and Modern Networks of Cities 6. "Ghost Cities": The Decline of Pivot Cities Through Power Shifts and Civilizational Transformation 7. "Lost Cities": Pivot Cities Liquidated with a Civilization 8. Pivot Cities on Lines of Geoeconomic/Geocultural Interaction: Centers of Civilizational Encounters Part III. Transforming/Transformed Pivot Cities Where Civilizations Meet 9. Jerusalem: The Soul of Civilizations’ History and Spiritual Transformation 10. Cairo and Civilizational Interaction: The Transformative Power of Place 11. Istanbul: A Civilization-Blending Subject City
About the author
Ahmet Davutoğlu served as the Prime Minister of the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th governments of the Republic of Turkey. Prior to this, he was Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is the first leader of the newly formed Future Party. In his academic career, he has held the position of professor at Marmara and Beykent Universities, Turkey, and the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He is the author of many books including Alternative Paradigms (1994), Civilizational Transformation and the Muslim World (1994), Stratejik Derinlik [Strategic Depths] (2015) and Systemic Earthquake and the Struggle for World Order (2020). He has received several awards, including the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in 2010. He was named as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine in 2012.
Summary
Based on the author’s long experience in academic life and the public realm, especially in foreign policy, this book argues that a single categoric classification of cities is inadequate, and that cities have had different and varied impacts and positions throughout the history of civilization.
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"A fascinating and conceptually illuminating overview of how crucial cities reflect flourishing civilizations. The author has an astonishing grasp of significant world cities, exhibiting a love of hallowed urban spaces gracefully fused with a deep knowledge of the historic impacts of what he intriguingly calls 'pivot cities.'"
Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, USA
"Ahmet Davutoğlu’s Pivot Cities in the Rise and Fall of Civilizations is a significant contribution to efforts to build genuinely inclusive and pluralist visions of humanity considering the challenges of globalization that mark our time. It focuses on urban centers where distinctive cultural/civilizational traditions formed, interacted, adjusted, and flourished while maintaining their essential qualities – or melted away.
Davutoğlu examines the experience of a broad range of cities comparatively across time and space. This approach provides historical depth and geographical breadth to his analyses of cultural and structural change and continuity. A new perspective calls for methodical adjustments. Davutoğlu challenges exclusive models of linear urban development toward a predestined end as defined by western European experience. He also advocates a holistic approach that highlights structural change and material achievements along with the ontological and axiological qualities of respective urban cultural zones.
Davutoğlu pays special attention to spatial spread and architectural landmarks of a city. They serve as mirrors of the normative and aesthetic values that distinguish an urban cultural or civilizational tradition and its interaction with others. Davutoğlu’s normally scholarly and impressively erudite social scientific language acquires a lyrical quality in his discussion of architecture, enabling the reader to feel the beauty and meaning of the settings he describes. This lyricism adds to the quality of Pivot Cities in the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, enhancing its appeal for dialogue, reflection, and broad vision toward a more meaningful and peaceful world."
Engin Deniz Akarli, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Brown University, USA
