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101. Building Common Ground: Going Beyond the Liberal Conundrum

Author:
Deen Chatterjee
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Liberalism as a political ideology and a philosophical doctrine has championed individual autonomy, social and political equality, and democratic and inclusive political institutions. Consequently, liberalism is known for its commitment to tolerance and value pluralism. Yet liberalism has been critiqued for being insensitive to claims of culture. Indeed, an attitude of benign neglect toward diversity was once quite common among liberals, as was a general lack of interest in global concerns. Worse yet, according to some critics the liberal tradition-in spite of its purported liberating mission of autonomy and self-determination (quintessential democratic values)-has provided the rationale for imperialism rooted in the liberal assumptions about reason and historical progress. Though these ironies are a clear source of embarrassment for today's liberals, liberalism still displays an uneasy commitment to pluralism. Liberals today are more challenged than ever to look at the dynamics of diversity both at home and abroad.

102. International Peace: One Hundred Years On

Author:
David C. Hendrickson
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
The bequest for the Church Peace Union-the predecessor of today's Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (and the publisher of this journal)-was given by Andrew Carnegie in February 1914. The Church Peace Union subsequently sponsored the first worldwide gathering of religious leaders, which was held in Constance, Germany, on August 2, 1914. Convened under the shadow of an impending war, not all delegates made it to the gathering. Six months previously, Carnegie had stipulated that the Church Peace Union devote its funds to the deserving poor "after the arbitration of international disputes is established and war abolished, as it certainly will be some day." This could happen, he noted, "sooner than expected, probably by the Teutonic nations, Germany, Britain, and the United States first deciding to act in unison, the others joining later." The outbreak of war was a catastrophic blow to such hopes, as the very nations expected to be at the core of this civilized project descended into an orgy of destruction the likes of which the world had never seen.
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, and Germany

103. Peace as a Transnational Theme

Author:
Akira Iriye
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Peace is normally understood as the absence of war among nations. But that definition presupposes the overarching importance of nations as the key units of human association. There are, however, many other non-national entities, such as races, ethnic communities, religions, cultures, and civilizations. These entities, too, engage in conflict from time to time, as exemplified by the interracial violence and religious antagonisms in various parts of the world today and, of course, that which took place in the past. Yet why do we preserve the terms "war" and "peace" only for interstate relations? This is a very limited perspective, inasmuch as wars are a phenomenon whose appearance long preceded the formation of nations in the modern centuries; and besides, a presumed state of peace among countries can conceal serious hostilities between races or religions within and across national boundaries. Nazi Germany was technically at peace with all countries till 1939, and yet violent acts were committed there against groups of people domestically who were not considered racially acceptable. In today's world, there are no large-scale international wars, but domestic tensions and physical assaults occur daily within many countries. Terrorists wage war against states and their citizens alike, but they are not nations. To counter their threat, war preparedness in the traditional sense may be useful, perhaps, but it is much less effective than the coming together of individuals and groups to create a condition of interdependence and mutual trust. World peace must fundamentally be founded on a sense of shared humanity, regardless of which country people happen to live in. To consider war and peace purely in the context of international relations, therefore, is insufficient, even anachronistic. What we need is less an international than a transnational idea of peace.
Political Geography:
Germany

104. Viewing Peace Through Gender Lenses

Author:
Laura Sjoberg
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
The war in Iraq is over. U.S. troops have withdrawn. Saddam Hussein has been overthrown and replaced with a government perceived to be more democratic and more just to the Iraqi people. In late 2011, concurrent with the U.S. withdrawal, strategists suggested that there was "peace at last" in Iraq, a cause for celebration.
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

105. Power Transitions, Global Justice, and the Virtues of Pluralism

Author:
Andrew Hurrell
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Broad comparisons of international relations across time-of the prospects for peace and of the possibilities for a new ethics for a connected world-typically focus on two dimensions: economic globalization and integration on the one hand, and the character of major interstate relations on the other. One of the most striking features of the pre-1914 world was precisely the coincidence of intensified globalization with a dramatic deterioration in major power relations, the downfall of concert-style approaches to international order, and the descent into total war and ideological confrontation-what T. S. Eliot termed "the panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history." Today's optimists stress the degree to which globalization appears much more firmly institutionalized than it was a hundred years ago, the rather striking success of global economic governance in responding to the financial crisis of 2007-2008 (compared to, say, the Great Depression), and the longer-term trend within international society to move away from major-power war. Pessimists are less sure. They worry that we have had to re-learn just how unstable global capitalism can be, both in terms of the wrenching societal changes produced by economic success and of the political strains produced by slowdown and recession. And they point to the abiding or resurgent power of nationalism in all of the core countries in the system, the return of balance-of-power thinking (above all in Asia), and the renewed salience of major power politics.
Political Geography:
Asia

106. The Arab Spring Two Years On: Reflections on Dignity, Democracy, and Devotion

Author:
Nader Hashemi
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
The Arab Spring of 2011 is widely viewed today as one of the great historical moments of political transformation. Comparisons have been made to the European revolutions of 1848 and the post-cold war democratic transitions in Eastern Europe, while some have spoken of a possible "fourth wave" of democratization. These analogies make sense given that longstanding dictators who seemed impervious to political change, in a region known for persistent authoritarianism, were suddenly toppled by largely nonviolent protesters invoking the universal themes of political freedom, dignity, and social justice. From the outset, however, the Arab Spring was met by a small chorus of criticism and contempt from prominent intellectuals, writers, and politicians.
Political Geography:
Europe and Arabia

107. Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order

Author:
Daniel Deudney
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Liberal Leviathan is a monumental work of political science that will stand for many years as a canonical statement on a topic- U.S. foreign policy and the liberal international order-that has been, and will continue to be, on the short list of the large topics of international history and politics. The book masterfully draws on history, advances international relations theory, and illuminates foreign policy choices of the past, present, and future. It also makes important contributions to the general theory of international orders (the circumstances, forces, and processes that shape their rise and fall), and of how the liberal international order differs from previous international orders and from the orders advanced by its rivals in the course of its rise. Henceforth, no serious student of American foreign policy and of international theory will be able to proceed without engaging Ikenberry's powerful and carefully formulated arguments.
Political Geography:
United States

108. Judging State-Sponsored Violence, Imagining Political Change

Author:
Andrew G. Reiter
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
As states emerge from periods of authoritarianism or civil war they are faced with the daunting task of engaging past political violence. Challenged by competing domestic demands and international pressures, and often hindered by limited resources and the sheer scope of past wrongdoing, states have a range of options at their disposal to engage in the transitional justice process. In her latest book, Bronwyn Leebaw argues that two competing frameworks have come to dominate the field of transitional justice. The first, "human rights legalism," stems from the Nuremberg Trials and stresses the promotion of law, trials, and individual criminal responsibility in the aftermath of atrocity. The second, which she terms "therapeutic restorative justice," has its origins in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) implemented by South Africa following the end of Apartheid, and focuses on repairing society and healing the wounds of the past.
Political Geography:
South Africa

109. Sex World Peace

Author:
Helen M. Kinsella
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
This is an important, well written, and informative book that will serve a wide audience of graduate and undergraduate students, academics, and policy-makers, as well as the interested public. It is a testament to the writing and presentation of the authors' argument that such a diverse audience will be challenged and enlightened by this work. And while there are particulars about which some will disagree, the breadth of information and analysis offered in Sex World Peace provides ample material for spirited engagement and further learning.

110. Thinking the Twentieth Century

Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
This is an extraordinary book by two extraordinary thinkers. Diagnosed with a terminal illness that made the use of his hands impossible, the eminent historian and public intellectual Tony Judt agreed to an unusual project: a series of free-flowing conversations with fellow historian Timothy Snyder, organized topically around areas of mutual interest, such as the intellectual history of twentieth-century Europe and the history of and future prospects for social democracy in Europe and North America. Snyder, whose groundbreaking 2010 book Bloodlands established him as one of the most important historians of European history working in the English language, serves as the interlocutor here, encouraging (and at times nudging) Judt to expand upon many of the themes of his earlier books and essays, such as Reappraisals, Ill Fares the Land, and the monumental Postwar.
Political Geography:
Europe and North America