After the September 11 attacks, the United States of America and the rest of the West found their democracies and republics in conflict with the Islamic world and left unable to fully judge the context of the attacks. Roger Scruton offers a conceptual explanation and argument to answer the question “What is exactly Western civilization, and what holds it together?”. He uses his answer to help explain the cultural, political, and social struggle between the internal worlds of Western civilization and Islamic civilization. Scruton’s The West and the Rest: Globalization and the Terrorist Threat gives context, proof, and commentary on the continuities and discontinuities between Western and Islamic principles to emphasize the need for renewal of the distinct Western culture. Scruton begins his profound analysis by explaining the great achievement of the West—its political process. This great achievement distinguishes the West from every other society because it separates private from political. He defines the West as “communities held together by a political process” that “[make] it possible to separate society from the state.” The separation of society from state does not make citizens and communities slaves to government, but rather servants because they have different private lives. This Western political process has new concepts like the social contract, citizenship, and nationhood. These concepts have their ultimate root in Roman law and Christianity. He states “the
Foreign and domestic policies are not linear, rather the policies are connected in a circle, with each policy reinforcing the values of another. Domestic American terrorism in the prison and detention systems and governmental reforms are influenced by the mobilization and ethnocentrism abroad. The militarization internationally is justified by the domestic handling of the same cultural issues within the United State borders. The United States has strangely used a near Catch-22 to handle dilemmas. The United States has allowed perspective to become reality, whether with oneself or regarding issues abroad, specifically in the Middle East. Terrorism is the use or threat of fear for political or economical gain. An internal characteristic of terrorism is how dependent it is of perspective, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. To understand “terrorism,” a focus must be applied to the history, what drove an organization to commit such acts. Respectively, the Middle East has been a hotbed for the key word “terrorism,” especially because of 9/11. Subsequently, Muslims have been stigmatized by the United States as terrorists. The consequences spawned because of 9/11 require a look to the past to understand the present.
For this reason, Pope Loe IX led other church officials in implementing reform efforts that would see ensure that the church could get back its lost power. For this reason, Pope Loe IX gave orders to the Roman Catholic clergy to dismiss the church officials that had taken part in selling church offices, and to renounce their wives (McKay et al., 2014). The orders were essential for ensuring that the church could control the corruption that was becoming rampant in the church. The measures were also essential for sending a message to the secular leaders, which was presumably an indication that they were working on regaining their lost power. After the death of Pope Leo, Gregory VII, Leo’s successor, continued with the reform work based on his ideological foundation (McKay et al., 2014). One of the reforms was the expelling of secular influence within church and the papal institution, which led to the expansion of the papal powers. such reforms solved the problems that the church was facing, which means that they were appropriate for the realization of the predetermined
Niall Ferguson’s thesis in his book “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” is to explain and prove why western civilization has exceeded the accomplishments of other nations throughout history up until present day. He attributes this world dominance to six “killer applications” the west had adopted and advanced beyond the means of any other civilizations. These applications were: competition, science, private property, medicine, consumption, and work.
The Role of Spain in Western Civilization The western civilization is a term that was used to describe the series of events that led to the adoption of modern culture to the uncivilized regions of the world. In this context, civilization means the adoption of modern or conventional religion as the main mode of worship. Religion led to a cease of activities such as idol worship and human sacrifice. Civilization also established formal leadership structures that had a resemblance of democracy in their governance.
Western Civilization from 1589 to 1914 had many specific changes that contributed to the structure of the western world before World War I. In the absolutism state sovereignty is embodied in the person of the ruler. Kings were absolute kings and were resposible to no none except god. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries absolute rulers had to respect the fundamental laws of their land. They had to control competing jurisdictions, institutions or groups that were interested in their territory. They regulated religious sects. France of Louis was the classic model of absolutism. Louis XIV, " the sun king," was a devoted Catholic who believed that god had estalblished kings as rulers on the earth. The French language and culture became
Western Civilization, as it is known today, is a coalescence of various cultures, ideologies, and practices that have been preserved over centuries of human life. Although a countless number of societies have influenced Western Civilization, Hebrew-Christian civilizations and Greco-Roman civilizations have been the two most influential. Both of these civilizations and their traditions have left equally deep and long-lasting marks on Western Civilization that are still seen in today’s society. While Hebrew-Christian religious traditions are at the core foundation of the largest religions of the western world, Greco-Roman political and social traditions are, on the other hand, seen in the fundamentals of Western societal systems and ideologies. In addition, both Hebrew-Christian traditions and Greco-Roman traditions are prominent in western political and governmental structures. Without the influence of Hebrew-Christian or Greco-Roman traditions, Western Civilization would not be what it is today.
The immediate results of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, were those who perished, or suffered physical and emotional trauma. The United States reacted to the attacks with grief and outrage. However, the long-term consequences of 9/11 involve the U.S. perceptions of Islam and terrorism and the Muslim experience in the United States. Recent ISIS activity is the reason for the additional spark in the targeting of Muslims, due to the U.S. emphasis on Islamic terrorism. These events continually influence the perceptions the U.S. has about Muslims and terrorism, and the pressures that Muslims face in the United States. Events of attack by ISIS fuel the peoples’ confidence in their initial post-9/11 suspicions, thus leading to them to
According to Samuel P. Huntington, a culture is a sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group from another. Different cultures have different religions, histories, languages, and traditions. On the other side, a civilization is contained of different groups and nations, which one has more political power and rich resources. On the other word, a civilization includes many smaller cultures, and all of these cultures have some general elements.
Applies to our society and culture of this decade. Now we take a look back on how the human race have evolved. The most influential period before BC were the Ancient Greeks, now let me take you back to the past where everything began.
The article Jihad vs. McWorld contributes to the rationalization of society thesis. Like the beginning of the protestant reformation when people begin to wonder and seek their purpose on earth, people are having are spiritually and physically struggling. In trying to understand faith against economic and cultural interdependence, people start to lose their own sense of rationality. Rationality is then determined by the institutions. Jihad is the struggle of civilizations in the context of cultural globalization and McWorld is the political, economic, and cultural globalization that has affected nationalism. Individuals become disposed to the forces of rationalization.
“Becoming a modern society is about industrialization, urbanization, and rising levels of literacy, education, and wealth.” Samuel Huntington. Modernity is a term used to describe the evolution of life. It was a period of history that focused on the progression of the individual rather than the society. Modernity is a progressive idea dedicated to rejecting tradition and focusing in individualism and capitalism. Modernity is essentially the progression of technology, rationalization, and a movement towards capitalism. Modernity was essential to creating western civilization and the way the western culture continues to operate. Modernity is the progression of individual rights and creating a capitalist society, and the foundation of western civilization.
The Decline of Western Civilization is among the most electrifying Rock Documentaries of all time, although it was perceived as outrageous and shocking at the time of its production. The documentary is an American film that was produced in 1981 and directed by Penelope Spheeris (Spheeris, 2015). Overall, the film chronicles the L.A. punk rock music scene and captures bands such as Black Flag and Iggy and the Stooges as they dominated the L.A. in the early 1980s and largely depicts life in Los Angeles at the time. A second and a third film later followed representing the 80’s heavy metal scene as well as the lifestyle of homeless teenagers. The American Film registry has preserved the film for the culturally, historically, and sensuous significance.
“What do I think of western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.” This quote was said by Mahatma Gandhi. Little did he know the effect that the rise of the West would have on the rest of the world. Maritime achievement, industrialization, and imperialism helped the West to rise in power and ultimately changed the second half of the millennia.
In this fight of us vs. them, the U.S. has tried to position itself as a democratic force for modernity, further reinforcing Islamic fundamentalists’ fear of secular humanistic modernism as a western import being imposed by force. An embrace of fundamentalism therefore became a source of empowerment and pride—a desire to return to a more sovereign and traditional tribal past. The same Gallup poll showed that while most of those surveyed condemned the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the resulting American campaign in Afghanistan was seen as an unjustified and arrogant aggression. The rising tide of public disillusionment with the West, and the modernity is chooses to represent, has created fertile ground for Islamic extremists to reap the benefits.
His rhetoric has, therefore, divided the world into Samuel Huntington’s ‘The West and the Rest.’ Whilst the Bush-Cheney administration may have, seemingly, sought to avoid the notion of a clash between ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’, the rhetoric of ‘clashing civilizations’ still crept into its discourse. As the Clash of Civilizations thesis entered the discourse, the Islam versus West debate was boosted and intensified. The