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Western Civilization Analysis

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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

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