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This timely and original volume fills the gaps in the existing theoretical and philosophical literature on international relations by problematizing civilization as a new unit of research in global politics. It interrogates to what extent and in what ways civilization is becoming a strategic frame of reference in the current world order.
The book complements and advances the existing field of study previously dominated by other approaches - economic, national, class-based, racial, and colonial - and tests its key philosophical suppositions against countries that exhibit civilizational ambitions. The authors are all leading international scholars in the fields of political theory, IR, cultural analysis, and area studies who deal with various aspects of the civilizational arena.
Offering key chapters on ideology, multipolarity, modernity, liberal democracy, and capitalism, this book extends the existing methodological, theoretical, and empirical debates for IR and area studies scholars globally. It will be of great interest to politicians, public opinion makers, and all those concerned with the evolution of world affairs.
List of contents
1. Introduction 2. What Is Civilization? Problems and Definitions 3. Ideology and Civilizational Discourse 4. Civilizational Ideology in Action: Challenge to the Current World Order 5. World of Worlds: The Global Order/Disorder in Its Civilizational Dimension 6. Civilization and Multipolarity: Converging for Co-operation vs. Interactions of the Diverged 7. Civilization and Modernity 8. Civilization and Liberal Democracy 9. Civilization and the Globalization of Capitalism 10. The Russia-Civilization: Change and Continuity 11. Conclusions
About the author
Elena Chebankova is an independent scholar, a former reader in politics and international relations at the University of Lincoln, UK, and a research fellow at Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge, UK.
Piotr Dutkiewicz is professor of political science and director of the center for governance and public policy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and visiting professor (pro bono) at Moscow State University, Russian Federation.
Summary
This timely and original volume fill the gaps in the existing theoretical and philosophical literature on international relations by problematizing civilization as a new unit of research in global politics. It interrogates to what extent and in what ways civilization is becoming a strategic frame of reference in the current world order.
