Jihad vs. McWorld

1. Jihad vs. McWorld Benjamin Barber, Ch. 4, pp. 32–38. (Excerpted from Barber, Introduction, in Jihad vs. McWorld, Times Books, 1995)

2. GL is characterized as a dialectic between two opposing forces: McWorld and Jihad • dialectic: a contradiction of ideas that serves as the determining factor in their interaction -"this situation created the inner dialectic of American history" (WordNet)

3. McWorld • “…is a product of popular culture driven by expansionist commerce” • Its template is American • Its goods are as much images as materiel, an aesthetic as well as a product line. • It’s about culture as commodity, apparel as ideology (36)

4. Jihad • Dogmatic and violent particularism, opposed to multiculturalism and all culture considered ‘other’ • Barber uses the term, "in its militant construction to suggest dogmatic and violent particularism of a kind known to Christians no less than Muslims, to Germans and Hindus as well as to Arabs" (35)

5. German philosophers, Hegel & Marx, also saw history in dialectical terms… But believed that it led to progress - typical Enlightenment thinking Barber is more pessimistic

6. The 2 forces – paradoxically interdependent – have one thing in common: • Both work to undermine the sovereignnation-state and thus endanger democracy, civil society, and democratic citizenship  "Their common thread is indifference to civil liberty" (34)

7. The identities spawned by McWorld & Jihad – consumer vs. a member of some particular tribe – seem to be crowding out identities based on democraticcitizenship • “Jihad pursues a bloody politics of identity, McWorld a bloodless economics of profit. • Belonging by default to McWorld, everyone is a consumer; seeking a repository for identity, everyone belongs to some tribe. • But no one is a citizen. Without citizens, how can there be democracy?” (35)

8. “Hard power yields to soft” • Defining power as “the ability to get what you want,” Joseph Nye (1990) distinguishes two types: • Soft power: employing co-optation and attraction (more ideological means) • Hard power: using means of coercion and payment (more material means)

9. “Ideology is transmuted into a kind of videology” • Videology works through sound bites and film clips • It’s “fuzzier” and less dogmatic than traditional political ideology: •  it may as a consequence be far more successful in instilling the novel values required for global markets to succeed” (36) •  the information revolution

10. Barber’s predictions: • “Jihad’s microwars will hold the headlines well into the next century… But McWorld’s homogenization is likely to establish a macropeace that favors the triumph of commerce and its markets and to give to those who control information, communication, and entertainment ultimate (if advertent) control over human destiny” (38)

11. ? • Do the Tunisian and Egyptian cases suggest there’s a way out of the Jihad-McWorld dialectic? • What kinds of identities drove the anti-government protests? • What conditions seem to promote struggles for citizenship/rights (as opposed to particularism/fundamentalism and consumerism)?

12. The Clash of Civilizations? Samuel P. Huntington, Ch. 5, pp. 39–46. (Excerpted from “The Clash of Civilizations?,” Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993)

13. Huntington’s hypothesis • The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic • It will be CULTURAL • Nation states will remain the most powerful actors, but the principle conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations • The fault lines between civilizations will be battle lines of future

14. Why Civilizations Will Clash: #1 • Differences among civilizations are basic, durable, more fundamental than differences among political ideologies & political regimes • Differences don’t necessarily mean conflict, and conflict isn't necessarily violent • Over centuries, however, civilizational differences have caused the longest and most violent conflicts

15. Why Civilizations Will Clash: #2 • The world is becoming smaller • Interactions among different people of different civilizations enhance the “civilizational consciousness" of people, and that invigorates differences and animosities

16. Why Civilizations Will Clash: #3 • Processes of economic modernization and social change are separating people from local identities • like anomie

17. Why Civilizations Will Clash: #4 • Growth of civilizational consciousness is enhanced by the dual role of the West, which has sparked a “return-to-roots” phenomenon among non-Western civilizations

18. Why Civilizations Will Clash: #5 • Cultural characteristics & differences are less mutable and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political and economic ones

19. The Fault-Lines between Civilizations • "In the Arab world, in short, Western democracy strengthens anti-Western political forces" (44)

20. The West vs. The Rest - I • The West is at peak of power (*written in 1993) • The "world community" is controlled by the US and great powers, through international org’s • "The West in effect is using international institutions, military power and economic resources to run the world in ways that will maintain Western predominance, protect Western interests and promote Western political and economic values" (45) • This succinctly expresses the "realist" perspective on international organizations (See Ch. 8)

21. The West vs. the Rest - II • Western concepts differ fundamentally from those prevalent in other civilizations • “Western ideas of individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, human rights, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, the separation of church and state, have little resonance in Islamic, Confucian, Japanese, Hindu, Buddhist, or Orthodox cultures" (p. 45) • OR maybe they do? (e.g., Egypt 2011)

22. Questions about culture: • How does Huntington understand culture? • How/why does he distinguish it from ideology? • Are cultural characteristics really less mutable (changeable) and less easily compromised than political or economic differences? • Are “cultures” or “civilizations” as distinct and contained as Huntington suggests? • Are the boundaries between them clear?

23. Nationality/Ethnicity/Race (8) American American-Dominican Italian/American *I am a girl from Pakistan outgoing white American…? Korean American Persian American (and very proud) *Guyanese-American Working Class Student Organizational role (@ Queens College) (6) Student student studying to become a teacher *hard-working student who body builds for fun *female student I am a psych major professor Species (5) Human (x 2) human A Human being I am a human being Religion/Ethnicity/Nationality (4) I am Catholic I am Jewish Persian Jew *Determined Jewish American Personal qualities (traits)/states of mind (4) "outgoing" kindhearted "patient" confused Hobbies/passions (3) Car Guy I play sports Writer Gender/Age (2) [+ 2 above?] I'm a19 yr old girl girl Don't Know (1) I don't know anymore. What are we?