Books

Fred Dallmayr, Small Wonder: Global Power and Its Discontents (Lanham, New Jersey and New York: Lexington Books, 2005).

As a corollary of globalization, human aspirations as well as human follies and vices are being magnified and globalized, leading to global superpowers, mammoth accumulations of wealth, and huge military-industrial complexes. Unrestrained by ethical and political barriers, this drive to bigness is accompanied by big disasters, from holocausts to terror wars. That the one should lead to the other, Faculty Fellow Fred Dallmayr contends, is really unsurprising and “small wonder” — in one of the senses this phrase is used in the title. Against the big self-images or self-deceptions of our age, this book marshals an array of critical intellectuals, from Theodor Adorno and Maurice Merleau-Ponty to Edward Said and Arundhati Roy. Their critiques reveal that today goodness and truth can only survive in smallness, in the “small wonder” of everyday life that cannot be co-opted by big power.

Elie Podeh and Asher Kaufman, eds., Arab-Jewish Relations: From Conflict to Reconciliation? (Brighton, U.K.: Sussex Academic Press, 2005).

This book, co-edited by Kroc faculty member and Assistant Professor of History Asher Kaufman, reviews the protracted history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the different attempts at reaching its peaceful resolution. The contributors illustrate the shades of gray of the conflict by shedding light not only on its territorial dimension but also on its emotional and psychological levels. Without addressing those dimensions, they argue, no lasting resolution can be reached.

Scott Mainwaring and Frances Hagopian, eds., The Third Wave of Democratization in Latin America: Advances and Setbacks (Cambridge, U.K. and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

This volume, edited by two faculty fellows, offers an ambitious and comprehensive overview of the unprecedented advances as well as the setbacks in the post-1978 wave of democratization. It explains the sea change from a region dominated by authoritarian regimes to one in which openly authoritarian regimes are the rare exception, and it analyzes why some countries have achieved striking gains in democratization while others have experienced erosions. The book presents general theoretical arguments about what causes and sustains democracy and analyzes nine theoretically compelling country cases.

Paul V. Kollman, The Evangelization of Slaves And Catholic Origins in Eastern Africa (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2005).

This book by a Kroc faculty fellow describes the evangelization of slaves by the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, a central feature of the missionary strategy on the coast of eastern Africa from 1860 until the late 1880s. Close attention to archival records shows how the today-burgeoning Catholic Church began in this region, and discloses the intricacies of both missionary actions and African responses. Kollman contends that, like the Africans they evangelized, these Catholic missionaries differed from today’s missionaries — and from others missionaries of the 19th century — in important ways often overlooked. African responses did not follow missionary expectations, and helped constitute the contemporary church.

Keir A. Lieber, War and the Engineers: The Primacy of Politics over Technology (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2005).

In War and the Engineers, the first book systematically to test the logical and empirical validity of offense-defense theory, Faculty Fellow Keir A. Lieber examines the relationships among politics, technology, and the causes of war. Lieber’s cases explore the military and political implications of the spread of railroads, the emergence of rifled small arms and artillery, the introduction of battle tanks, and the nuclear revolution. Incorporating the new historiography of World War I, which draws on archival materials that only recently have become available, Lieber challenges many common beliefs about the conflict. His central conclusion is that technology is neither a cause of international conflict nor a panacea; instead, power politics remains paramount.

Mary H. Moran, Liberia: The Violence of Democracy, Ethnography of Political Violence Series, Cynthia Mahmood, ed. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005).

This book, the latest in a series edited by Senior Fellow Cynthia Mahmood, argues that democracy is not a foreign import into Africa. Rather, author Mary Moran, associate professor of anthropology at Colgate University contends that essential aspects of what people in the West consider democratic values are part of the indigenous African traditions of legitimacy and political process. In Liberia, these democratic traditions include local, institutionalized checks and balances that allow for the voices of women and younger men to be heard. Moran argues that the violence and state collapse that have beset Liberia and other West African countries in recent decades cannot be attributed to ancient tribal hatreds or leaders who are modern versions of traditional chiefs. Rather, democracy and violence are intersecting themes in Liberian history that have manifested themselves in many contexts.


Chapters

R. Scott Appleby, “Global Civil Society and the Catholic Social Tradition,” in John A. Coleman and William F. Ryan, eds., Globalization and Catholic Social Thought: Present Crisis, Future Hope (Ottawa, Novalis, 2005), pp. 130-40.

From the perspective of Catholic Social Teaching, a globalized civil society must foster the thick web of associational ties shared by people rooted in a particular place and time who are responsible for that place and time, writes Kroc Institute Director and Professor of History Scott Appleby. Place and time are precisely the conditions that globalization seeks to overcome or to render irrelevant; but they are, Appleby argues, the binding glue of civil society. In this chapter, he defines the conditions under which a global civil society might flourish, and explores ways in which Catholics are increasingly involved in creating those conditions.

Asma Afsaruddin, “Patience is Beautiful: Qur’anic Ethics in Said Nursi’s Risale-i Nur,” in Ian Markham and Ibrahim Ozdemir, eds., Globalization, Ethics and Islam: The Case of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), pp. 79-88.

Globalization has been criticized for promoting uneven economic development and rank profiteering on the part of transnational corporations without due regard for human rights and alternate socioeconomic systems. Faculty Fellow Asma Afsaruddin suggests that the injection of traditional religious virtues such as humility and patience into corporate cultures has the potential to humanize globalization. Conscious inculcation of such virtues may promote, for example, a concern for the equitable sharing of global resources as their humble custodians rather than as their rapacious consumers. The author draws on the Qur’an as well as the exegetical and ethical literature of Islam, including the writings of the Turkish Sufi thinker Said Nursi, to explore Muslim ethical responses to the social and economic consequences of globalization and modernity.

Fred Dallmayr, “Dialogue among Civilizations,” in Hermann-Josef. Scheidgen, Norbert Hintersteiner and Yoshiro Nakamura, eds., Philosophie, Gesellschaft und Bildung in Zeiten der Globalisierung (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2005), pp. 68-84.

This essay argues in favor of intensified cross-cultural interactions as an antidote to the “clash of civilizations” and unending terror wars.

Fred Dallmayr, “Empire or Cosmopolis: Civilization at the Crossroads,” in Raul Fornet-Betancourt, ed., New Colonialisms in North-South Relations (Frankfurt/London: IKO Verlag fuer Interkulturelle Kommunikation, 2005), pp. 45-70.

The author argues that modern civilization stands at a parting of the ways: moving in the direction either of a global Leviathan or a peaceful cosmopolitan community.

K. C. MacKinnon and Agustin Fuentes, “Reassessing male aggression and dominance: The evidence from primatology,” in Susan McKinnon and Sydel Silverman, eds., Complexities: Beyond Nature and Nurture (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), pp. 83-105.

The evidence for the diversity and complexity of nonhuman primate behavior has complicated generalizations from primate to human behavior. Yet, at the same time, certain reductionist accounts — stemming primarily from sociobiology and evolutionary psychology — have found their way into popular narratives that rely on analogies between primate and human behavior that have little basis in the evidence of primatology. This chapter, co-authored by Faculty Fellow Agustin Fuentes, focuses on the tension between these trends in the uses of primatology, particularly as they relate to discussions of male aggression and male dominance. The authors examine the representation of sex roles and aggression in nonhuman primate species and consider how the resulting constructs intersect with notions of gender behavior and aggression in humans.

Denis Goulet, “On Culture, Religion, and Development,” in Reclaiming Democracy: The Social Justice and Political Economy of Gregory Baum and Kari Polanyi Levitt, Marguerite Mendell, ed. (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005), pp. 21-32.

“Development” — an image of secure affluence and fulfilling lives for all — is the most potent political myth of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st, contends Faculty Fellow Denis Goulet. Yet despite its promise of secular salvation via technological rationality, development has not eliminated religion. This essay explores the question, why not?


Articles

Asma Afsaruddin, “Muslim Views on Education: Parameters, Purview, and Possibilities,” Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, vol. 44 (2005): 143-178.

This essay is part of a paper symposium titled “Religious Education and the Liberal State,” in which Faculty Fellow Asma Afsaruddin traces the development of Islamic educational systems from the medieval to the contemporary. She calls for a revival of the philosophy of classical Islamic education with its holistic emphasis on the religious and secular disciplines and its ethos inclusive of women and religious minorities. Such a revival would serve as an antidote to the militancy that has afflicted a minority of reactionary religious schools in South Asia, for example. Afsaruddin concludes by advocating a healthy marriage between religious values and universal liberal principles, which could breathe new life into faith-based schools in the Islamic heartlands and in diaspora.

Asma Afsaruddin, “Of Jihad, Terrorism, and Pacifism: Scripting Islam in the Transnational Sphere,” Global Dialogue, vol. 7 (Summer/Autumn 2005): 120-133

In this essay, the author considers the various ways in which Islam has been scripted and staged after September 11, bringing to the forefront key concepts such as jihad, terrorism, and pacifism that are often linked with it by diverse commentators. The article deals with the semantic and cognitive purview of these concepts and of related notions, such as martyrdom, over a broad span of time and indicates how these terms are being interrogated and deployed by Muslims and non-Muslims. Afsaruddin concludes by reflecting on whether these evocative concepts can continue to serve as useful springboards for meaningful discussions on the future of Islam and Muslims, and to what uncharted territory they point as arenas of fruitful engagement.

Haya Shamir, E. Mark Cummings, Patrick T. Davies, and Marcie C. Goeke-Morey, “Children’s Reactions to Marital Conflict in Israel and in the U.S.,” Parenting: Science and Practice, vol. 5, no. 4 (2005): 371-386.

Gaps in cross-cultural study limit understanding of whether effects of marital discord are culture specific or culture universal. Kroc Institute Faculty Fellow Mark Cummings and his fellow researchers studied 79 Israeli and 215 U.S. kindergartners, who responded to analog presentations of resolved and unresolved marital conflicts. Both groups reacted more positively to resolved conflicts. However, U.S. children reported more happiness for resolved conflicts, and more distressed emotions (anger, sadness) and coping responses (mediation) to unresolved conflicts. Moreover, only the expectations of U.S. children about future marital relations (anger, happiness) were affected by resolution of the conflicts. Alternative explanations for these cross-cultural differences include differences in collectivistic values, the role of extended family, and conflict resolution in geopolitical context.

Fred Dallmayr, “On the Natural Theology of the Chinese: A Tribute to Henry Rosemont, Jr.,” Ex/Change (Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies, City University of Hong Kong), no. 13 (July 2005): 67-84.

The essay pays tribute to Henry Rosemont, who in turn paid tribute to the philosopher Leibniz, who followed Matteo Ricci in pleading for an accommodation between Western and Asian theologies.

Larissa Fast and Reina Neufeldt. 2005. “Building Blocks for Peacebuilding Impact Evaluation,” Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, vol. 2, no. 2 (2005): 24-41.

Development agencies wishing to evaluate their peacebuilding programs are challenged by political, social and economic changes; by intangible changes in attitudes and relationships; and by the need to take a long-term perspective. Authors Larissa Fast, visiting assistant professor of sociology, and Reina Neufeldt, advisor for peacebuilding for Catholic Relief Services in Southeast Asia, provide an analytical framework for evaluation that also can be used in program design and planning stages. Their article presents strategic and comprehensive frameworks, drawing upon the work of scholars and practitioners in development and/or peacebuilding.

Denis Goulet, “Global Governance, Dam Conflicts, and Participation,” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 27 (2005): 881-907.

Large dams, long viewed as beneficial and essential to development, have become sites of major social conflict. Participatory decision making by “affected” populations in macro sectors of development is viewed by many as impossible, notwithstanding its advocacy by the World Commission on Dams on the basis of its “rights and risks” approach. Yet such participation is feasible, writes Faculty Fellow Denis Goulet, using Brazilian initiatives to make his case. Lessons yielded by dam conflicts in Northeast Brazil suggest how authentic participation can occur in water/dam policymaking and other arenas of globalization.

Jackie Smith and Dawn Wiest, “The Uneven Geography of Global Civil Society: Explaining Participation in Transnational Social Movement Organizations,” Social Forces, vol. 84. no. 2 (December 2005): 621-652.

The world has witnessed an explosion in transnational citizen activism, and more analysts and scholars acknowledge the expansion of what they call “global civil society.” But participation varies widely. Associate Professor of Sociology and Kroc faculty member Jackie Smith and her co-author ask what factors influence who takes part in transnational civil society. Contrary to popular assumptions, the state remains important while global economic integration has little role in determining which countries’ citizens participate in transnational associations. Rich countries’ citizens are more active transnationally, but low-income countries with strong ties to the global polity are also more tied to global activist networks. This suggests that transnational social movement organizations do not simply reproduce world-system stratification, but help sow the seeds for its transformation.

Jackie Smith, “Building Bridges or Building Walls? Explaining Regionalization among Transnational Social Movement Organizations,” Mobilization, vol. 10, no. 2 (Spring 2005): 251-270.

Before the mid-1980s, most transnational social movement organizations (TSMOs) organized across the North-South divide. However, since the mid-1980s data show that more TSMOs are organized exclusively within either the global North or South. These researchers found that groups in the global South were more likely than their Northern counterparts to maintain cross-regional ties while Northern groups were significantly more likely to report only regional ties. At the same time, environmental and women’s organizations were the most likely to maintain only regional ties while economic justice and human rights organizations were the most likely to report cross-regional ties.

Jackie Smith, “Response to Immanuel Wallerstein: The Struggle for Global Society in a World System,” Social Forces, vol. 83 (March 2005): 1279-1285. http://socialforces.unc.edu/epub/pub_soc/socialforcesessay3.pdf

What does contemporary global justice activism have to say about appropriate strategies for addressing persistent global inequality? This short essay contributes to Social Forces’s “public sociology” forum, where prominent scholars discuss what social science can add to policy debates. The author proposes ways in which scholars can contribute to social change activism.

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