The Empire of Civilization

by Bowden, Brett

• ISBN13: 9780226068145
• ISBN10: 0226068145
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

The term "civilization" comes with considerable baggage, dichotomizing people, cultures, and histories as "civilized"or not. While the idea of civilization has been deployed throughout history to justify all manner of interventions and sociopolitical engineering, few scholars have stopped to consider what the concept actually means. Here, Brett Bowden examines how the idea of civilization has informed our thinking about international relations over the course of ten centuries. From the Crusades to the colonial era to the global war on terror, this sweeping volume exposes "civilization" as a stage-managed account of history that legitimizes imperialism, uniformity, and conformity to Western standards, culminating in a liberal-democratic global order. Along the way, Bowden explores the variety of confrontations and conquestsas well as those peoples and places excluded or swept asideundertaken in the name of civilization. Concluding that the "West and the rest" have more commonalities than differences,this provocative and engaging bookultimately points the way toward an authentic intercivilizational dialogue that emphasizes cooperation over clashes.

Author Biography

Brett Bowden is senior lecturer in politics at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra.

 

 

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
A Note on Spelling	p. xiii
Introduction: Guizot's Question: Universal Civilization?	p. 1
Civilization, Progress, and History: Universals All?
The Ideal of Civilization: Its Origins, Meanings, and Implications	p. 23
Civilization and the Idea of Progress	p. 47
The Nation of Universal Civilization: One End for All?	p. 77
The Art and Science of Empire
The Expansion of Europe and the Classical Standard of Civilization	p. 103
The Burden of Civilization and the "Art and Science of Colonization"	p. 129
New Barbarism, Old Civilization, Revived Imperialism
New Barbarism and the Test of Modernity	p. 161
The "New Realities" of Imperialism	p. 189
Conclusion: The Future of Intercivilizational Relations	p. 215
Notes	p. 233
Bibliography	p. 267
Index	p. 291
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