Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder

by Achcar,Gilbert

• ISBN13: 9781594513084
• ISBN10: 1594513082
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The London bombings of July 7th, 2005, revived the debates that raged after 9/11. What relation did they bear to the foreign and war policies of the United Kingdom and the United States? Were they symptoms of a 'œcultural clash' between deep-seated 'œvalues' or signs of a social crisis at the root of the ongoing conflict? How should we analyze the present-day emergence of fanatical forms of Islamic fundamentalism? The title of the book alludes to the famous thesis on the 'œClash of Civilizations.' Achcar develops a counterthesis, namely that the clashes we are witnessing do not oppose civilizations, but their dark sides. Each civilization produces a specific form of barbarism, which tends to take over in periods of crisis. Accordingly, the Bush administration doesn't embody the values of Western civilization nor does Islamic fanaticism of the al-Qa'ida type represent Islamic civilization. The clash between them is a 'œclash of barbarisms' in which the main culprit remains the most powerful. The war of aggression and occupation in Iraq led to blatant manifestations of Western barbarism, most strikingly epitomized by the torture at Abu Ghraib, and inevitably nurtured fanatical Islamic and other counterbarbarisms.

Author Biography

Gilbert Achcar teaches politics and international relations at the University of Paris.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the Second Edition: New York-on-the-Thames	7	(10)
Introduction: From One September 11th to Another	17	(6)
1. Narcissistic Compassion and Global Spectacle	23	(16)
Anti-Americanism and 'Values'	23	(4)
Absolute and Relative Evil	27	(3)
The Uniqueness of 11 September	30	(3)
Globalization and Narcissistic Compassion	33	(3)
The Media and the Logic of War	36	(3)
2. Oil, Religion, Fanaticism and Frankensteins	39	(38)
The Sorcerer's Apprentices	40	(3)
An Islamic Texas	43	(6)
Propagating Islamic Fundamentalism	49	(4)
Interpretations of Islamic Fundamentalism	53	(8)
On Despotism in Muslim Countries	61	(5)
Neither Fascist nor Progressive	66	(5)
Bin Laden's Duel with Washington	71	(6)
3. Hatred, Barbarisms, Asymmetry and Anomie	77	(39)
Hatred and Strategy	78	(6)
The Clash of Barbarisms	84	(6)
Preventing Terrorism	90	(6)
On Asymmetric Dominance	96	(4)
Hegemonic Unilateralism	100	(6)
Apocalyptic Terrorism	106	(4)
Urban Violence and Anomie	110	(6)
4. The Barbarism of the 'Civilizing Mission' [Postscript]	116	(27)
Varieties of Perverse Enjoyment	117	(9)
The 'Civilizing Mission"s New Clothes	126	(6)
The 'Democracy Paradox'	132	(11)
Conclusion: Leviathan and the Presidents	143	(16)
Two Conceptions of World Order	145	(7)
Postwar Choices	152	(7)
Notes	159	(26)
Bibliography	185	(4)
Index	189