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Expanding upon, and engaging with, the influential theories of Francis Fukuyama in The End of History and Samuel Huntington in The Clash of Civilisations, this book is a major, and controversial, contribution to these key contemporary debates. Dieter Senghaas examines some of the most significant political issues we face today:
* How do societies cope with pluralization? * Can tolerance be a successful solution? * What is the role of 'culture' in recent conflicts which have been described as culturally induced? * And will twenty-first-century world politics sink into cultural conflicts on a biblical scale?
Dieter Senghaas explores these questions within the context of the main non-Western cultural areas Chinese political philosophy, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism and goes on to reflect on the possibility of a constructive form of intercultural dialogue. Senghaas's distinctive and radical approach will be of great interest and topicality to all those working in politics, international relations, sociology, cultural studies, development studies, religion and international political economy.

Innehållsförteckning levererad av Syndetics

• Introduction
• Part 1 Pluralization and politicization: challenges for cultures
• 1 Intercultural philosophy today
• 1.1 The intellectual and practical consequences of a restructured world
• 1.2 Coming to terms with civilization
• 1.3 The global declien of cultural essentialism
• 1.4 Conclusions
• 2 Is there a point in looking back? The relevance of classical Chinese philosophy for modern China
• 2.1 The issue
• 2.2 Points of referece
• 2.3 Classical paradigms
• 2.4 Contradictions and complementarities
• 2.5 The narrowing of the philosopshical discourse
• 2.6 Conclusions
• 3 The quest for innovation: Islam and the challenges of pluralism
• 3.1 The current situation
• 3.2 The basic problem
• 3.3 Starting points for a productive treatment of plurality
• 3.4 Self-blockade by fighting the West
• 4 Homelessness versus public order: inquiries on Buddhism
• 4.1 Homelessness as an ideal
• 4.2 Society and the world - simply residual categories?
• 4.3 How should Buddhism react to modernity?
• 4.4 Conclusions
• 5 From spiritual to modern plurality? Hinduism at a crossroads
• 5.1 Spiritual plurality
• 5.2 Modern plurality
• 5.3 The challenge
• 5.4 'Casteless' Hinduism
• 6 Interim observations Part II - Clash of Cultures?
• 7 A clash of civilizations - an ideé fixe?
• 7.1 A clash of civilizations
• 7.2 The civilizations
• 7.3 Culture or economic deprivation?
• 7.4 Cultural coexistence
• 8 The realities of cultural struggles
• 8.1 Recollections
• 8.2 Contextualizing cultural conflicts
• 8.3 The West and cultural struggles
• 8.4 Conclusions
• 9 On Asian and other values
• 9.1 'Asian values'
• 9.2 Collectivist values in a context of late development
• 9.3 Conditions of late modernization
• 9.4 Conclusions
• 10 Interim observations
• Part 3 Communication about cultures
• 11 Pleading for a reorientation of the intercultural dialogue
• 11.1 The realistic reconstruction by Westerners of their own historical development
• 11.2 Calling for a realistic insider's view of Islam
• 11.3 Looking beyond the Christian-Muslim dialogue
• 11.4 The message of modernism - a proposal
• 11.5 Outlook
• Notes
• Suggested reading
• Index