scholarly journals Turning the Other Cheek to Terrorism: Reflections on the Contemporary Significance of Leo Tolstoy's Exegesis of the Sermon on the Mount

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre J. M. E. Christoyannopoulos
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sermon On The Mount ◽  
Role Of Religion

AbstractThe “war on terror” has brought to the fore the old debate on the role of religion in politics and international relations, a question on which Tolstoy wrote extensively during the latter part of his life. He considered Jesus to have clearly spelt out some rational moral and political rules for conduct, the most important of which was non-resistance to evil. For Tolstoy, Jesus' instructions not to resist evil, to love one's enemies and not to judge one another together imply that a sincere Christian would denounce any form of violence and warfare, and would strive to respond to (whatever gets defined as) evil with love, not force. In today's “war on terror,” therefore, Tolstoy would lament both sides' readiness to use violence to reach their aims; and he would call for Christians in particular to courageously enact the rational wisdom contained in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Tolstoy's exegesis of Christianity may be too literal and too rationalistic, and may lead to an exceedingly utopian political vision; but it articulates a refreshingly peaceful method for religion to shape politics, one that can moreover and paradoxically be related to by non-Christians precisely because of its alleged grounding in reason.

scholarly journals PROROSYJSKIE PORTALE INTERNETOWE W POLSCE I INNYCH KRAJACH EUROPY ŚRODKOWEJ JAKO ISTOTNY ELEMENT KSZTAŁTOWANIA PROWADZONEJ PRZEZ ROSJĘ WOJNY INFORMACYJNEJ

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Jastrzębska
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Central European ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
Internet Portals ◽  
Russian Politics ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
Vladimir Putin

Abstrakt: Polityka Rosji i jej obecnego prezydenta – Władimira Putina – wzbudza na świecie wiele kontrowersji, jednak z drugiej strony grupy wspierające działania państwa rosyjskiego, którego głównym celem jest odbudowa swojej silnej pozycji na arenie międzynarodowej nie są zjawiskiem rzadkim. Swoje poparcie dla działań Moskwy wyrażają poprzez środki masowego przekazu, m.in. przez internet. Niniejszy artykuł poświęcony będzie internetowym portalom, sprzyjającym polityce Moskwy, istniejącym w krajach Europy Środkowej – państw pogranicza Wschodu i Zachodu, przez długi czas będących częścią radzieckiej strefy wpływów, zaś obecnie integrujących się ze strukturami europejskimi. Praca postara się przedstawić najważniejsze treści prezentowane na tych stronach, stosunek do wzrastającego znaczenia Rosji w stosunkach międzynarodowych oraz prób odzyskania pozycji mocarstwa (m.in. odniesienie do konfliktu ukraińskiego) a także w jaki sposób te portale i ich aktywność wpływają na procesy społeczno-polityczne, istniejące w tych państwach i czy witryny te mogą być aktywnym instrumentem wykorzystywanym przez Rosję w procesie kształtowania i prowadzenia działań określanych mianem wojny informacyjnej. Abstract: The current politics of Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin is considered as very controversial, but from the other hand many groups support the actions, which are concerned on increasing the strong position of Russia at the international area. Their advocacy for its policy is showed by many means of transitions like Internet. The main focus of this article will be interested in internet portals, which promote the Russian politics which exist in Central European countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Mentioned countries exist on sui generis borderland of East and West. They were for many years parts of Soviet sphere of influence and now try to arrange their position in West European structures. Article will try to answer which type of contents can be found on this websites, their attitude to expanding role of Russia in international relations and Moscow's attempts for recupering the superpower status (like opinion about Ukrainian conflict) and in which way these portals and their activities can influence social and political processes, which are conducted in these states. At least article will mention how described websites can be used as active instrument in the process of shaping and carrying on movements which can be called as information war.

Introduction: Religion and the Novel

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-33
Author(s):  
Christina Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Postcolonial Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Religion And Literature ◽  
Religious Other ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the topic of religion and literature, theorises the novel as a secular genre, and develops a concept of religion as the other in the Arabic novel. It begins with a discussion of the relationship between religion and literature, identifying imagination, metaphorical language and mythos as areas of overlap, before turning to the question of religion and the Arabic novel as a modern form which eschews faith and dogma but is nevertheless packed with religious themes, images, characters, language and intertextuality. This is accounted for by the form’s secularism, which is theorised in terms of Charles Taylor’s conditions of belief. Literary secularism is not static and stable however, thus religion emerges as the other in the Egyptian novel, with all the ambivalence which alterity characteristically entails. This religious other calls into question postcolonial studies’ over-valorisation of the East/West binary insofar as it has obscured the critical role of religion in Arab postcolonial literature and identity.

9. Constructivism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Fierke
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Science ◽  
International Relations ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Theory Versus

This chapter examines the key debates that have shaped the development of constructivism in International Relations (IR). It first considers the idea that international relations is a social construction, as it emerged from the critique of more traditional theories of IR. It then explores the distinctions among various constructivisms, with particular emphasis on the contrast between those who seek a ‘better’ social science, and hence better theory, versus those who argue that constructivism is an approach that rests on assumptions at odds with those of positivist method. The chapter proceeds by discussing constructivists' critique of rationalism, along with constructivism as a ‘middle ground’ between rationalist and poststructuralist approaches to IR. It also analyses the role of language and causality in the debate between rationalists and constructivists. Finally, it links all these insights to the War on Terror.

scholarly journals The missing Other: a review of Linklater’sViolence and Civilization in the Western States-System

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. H. M. Ling
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The West ◽  
Las Casas

AbstractAs Andrew Linklater has shown, Europeans have decreased their tolerance for, or endorsement of, violence over the centuries. Various international and domestic conventions demonstrate the point. This accomplishment rightfully deserves celebration. But herein lies the rub. While Linklater recognises the role of imperialism and colonialism in perpetrating global violence, he does not grant equal opportunity to the Rest in contributing to the world’s new moral heights. Linklater assumes, for instance, that Las Casas never talked with indigenes to realise that they, too, warrant recognition as human beings; Catholic piety alone sufficed. The West thus towers in singular triumph, embedding International Relations (IR) in what I call Hypermasculine Eurocentric Whiteness (HEW). Still, the Other retains a sense of its Self. An effervescent spirit of play enables resilience and creativity toco-produceour world-of-worlds. Come out and play!, I urge. It’s time to shed IR’s ‘tragedy’ for the sparkle within.

Religion, Conflict, and Reconciliation: Ecumenical Initiatives Amidst Human Brokenness and Community Division

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-111
Author(s):  
Jerald D. Gort
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
Human Capacity ◽  
The One ◽  
Role Of Religion

AbstractAfter reflecting on the ambiguous role of religion in terms of violence, Jerald D. Gort in this article outlines, first, the conditions for true reconciliation among peoples (acknowledgement of Christian complicity; no cheap reconciliation; no utopian enthusiasm; no fatalistic view of human capacity); then, second, he outlines the initiatives ofthe World Council of Churches (WCC) toward justice and reconciliation in the world. Such initiatives involve the struggle against injustice on the one hand and a practice of the "wider ecumenism" (dialogue of histories, theologies, spiritualities, and life) on the other.

scholarly journals The concept of "religious conflict": searches and discussions

2008 ◽  
pp. 5-10
Author(s):  
Alla Vadymivna Aristova
Keyword(s):  
Religious Conflict ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Religious Conflicts ◽  
The One ◽  
Role Of Religion

Domestic scholars interested in the study of socio-religious conflicts have a very difficult task. In the absence of their own theoretical tradition in the field of conflictology, the long domination of ideological stereotypes and illusions about the role of religion in society, and in the context of the uniqueness of those socio-religious processes that exploded in the 90s of the last century, the researchers found themselves in a real way. On the one hand, the achievements of Western conflictology had just begun to flow into scientific circulation and were still waiting for its processing (besides, in principle, it could not be automatically transferred to the domestic soil), on the other - for the emergence of their own thorough conflictological intelligence it took some time. , for tendencies of development of religious relations, of course, are viewed only with the run of historical events.

Foreign Policy and Religion: An Overview

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn M. Warner ◽  
Stephen G. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Bounded Rationality ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Role Of Religion

Despite the increased attention to religion in international relations, questions remain about the role of religion in the foreign policies of states. Extrapolating from theories in the fields of international relations and comparative politics is a fruitful strategy to explore religion’s potential avenues of influence on foreign policy. There are also potential methodological tools of analysis in these fields, which can be fruitfully applied to understand the role of religion in foreign policy. Contributions from the field of religion and politics may be used to frame applications of such theories as realism, constructivism, liberalism, and bounded rationality to specify further hypotheses about religion and foreign policy. The potential of these theoretical approaches from international relations to the analysis of religion has not yet been exploited fully although it is clear that there are promising signs of progress.

scholarly journals Misrecognition in the making of a state: Ghana’s international relations under Kwame Nkrumah

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 882-901
Author(s):  
Julia Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The West ◽  
Complex State ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
The One ◽  
Struggle For Recognition

AbstractThis article draws on a Kleinian psychoanalytic reading of Hegel’s theory of the struggle for recognition to explore the role of international misrecognition in the creation of state subjectivity. It focuses on Ghana’s early years, when international relations were powerfully conceptualised and used by Kwame Nkrumah in his bid to bring coherence to a fragile infant state. Nkrumah attempted to create separation and independence from the West on the one hand, and intimacy with a unified Africa on the other. By creating juxtapositions between Ghana and these idealised international others, he was able to create a fantasy of a coherent state, built on a fundamental misrecognition of the wider world. As the fantasy bumped up against the realities of Ghana’s failing economy, fractured social structures, and complex international relationships, it foundered, causing alienation and despair. I argue that the failure of this early fantasy was the start of Ghana’s quest to begin processes of individuation and subjectivity, and that its undoing was an inevitable part of the early stages of misrecognition, laying the way for more grounded struggles for recognition and the development of a more complex state-subjectivity.

The Domestic Sources of Grand Strategy

2021 ◽  
pp. 238-255
Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Caverley
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International System ◽  
The Other ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
International Economic Relations ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Domestic Sources ◽  
Almost All

Over the past decades of American-dominated International Relations, research on domestic sources of grand strategy has largely coalesced around the liberal ends of democracy and free trade. Given increasing Sino-American competition, this chapter predicts a turn to a more robust International Relations research program on the role that domestic ideas and material factors play in shaping grand strategy. This research will focus as much on the means of grand strategy as the ends. Much work already examines how democracy (and nondemocracy) can drive grand strategy, and important states in contemporary international politics differ on this front. On the other hand, almost all the major powers in the international system remain quite liberal in their international economic relations—the other concern of research on domestic influences on grand strategy. This chapter delves further into the grand-strategic role of regime type and the form of capitalism practiced within the state. It then suggests two additional under-researched domestic-level factors—militarism and nationalism—that will shape grand strategy in the coming years.

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