Pivot Cities in the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Based on the author's long experience in academic life and the public realm, especially in foreign policy, this book argues that a single categoric classification of cities is inadequate, and that cities have had different and varied impacts and positions throughout the history of civilization.

Autorentext

Ahmet Davutoglu served as the Prime Minister of the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th governments of the Republic of Turkey. Prior to this, he was Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is the first leader of the newly formed Future Party. In his academic career, he has held the position of professor at Marmara and Beykent Universities, Turkey, and the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He is the author of many books including Alternative Paradigms (1994), Civilizational Transformation and the Muslim World (1994), Stratejik Derinlik [Strategic Depths] (2015) and Systemic Earthquake and the Struggle for World Order (2020). He has received several awards, including the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service in 2010. He was named as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and as one of the 100 Most In uential People in the World by Time magazine in 2012.

Inhalt

Preface

Part I. Intellectual Experiences and Methodological Framework

1. Introduction: Intellectual Background

I. My First Encounters with Cities: Traces of Place

II. From Empirical Consciousness to Theory: Civilizational Self-Perception and Cities

2. Critical Analysis of City Historiography: A Methodological Framework

I. Methodological Criticism

II. An Exemplary Analysis of Methodological Dilemma: Ottoman Cities in City Historiography

III. The City as the Subject of the History of Civilizations: Classification of Pivot Cities Part II. The Role of Pivot Cities in the History of Civilizations

3. Civilization-Founding Pivot Cities: Pioneering Cities

I. Pataliputra: A Model of Spatial and Social Order

II. Athens: Cultural Center of Civilizational Continuity

III. From Rome to Pax Romana: From a City to an Imperial Political Order

IV. Medina: A Prototype for Cities of Islamic Civilization

4. Pivot Cities Founded by a Civilization: The Rise of Cities as Political Centers after the Formation of a Civilizational Paradigm

I. The Islamic City: The Building of "New Medinas" in Different Cultural Basins

II. The Power Centers of Western Civilization: Modernity and Ascendant Cities

5. Pivot Cities Transplanted During the Formation of Civilizations: Alexandrian, Ottoman and Modern Networks of Cities

I. The Alexandrian Cities and Civilizational Interaction

II. The Ottoman-Seljuk City Tradition on the Khorasan-Anatolia-Rumelia Line

III. Modern Economo-Politics Transfer Cities

6. "Ghost Cities": The Decline of Pivot Cities Through Power Shifts and Civilizational Transformation

I. The Era of Ascendancy: Binding Different Cultural Geographies

II. The Era of Decline: End of the Multicultural Social Environment

III. Ultimate Destiny: From Pivotal Role to a "Ghost City"

7. "Lost Cities": Pivot Cities Liquidated with a Civilization

I. Invasion

II. End of Political Dominance

III. Historical Non-existence

8. Pivot Cities on Lines of Geoeconomic/Geocultural Interaction: Centers of Civilizational Encounters

I. The Mesopotamia-Anatolia-Levant Line

II. The Central Asia-Iran-India Line

III. The Central Asia-Steppes Line

IV. The Andalusia-North Africa-Sahara Line Part III. Transforming/Transformed Pivot Cities Where Civilizations Meet

9. Jerusalem: The Soul of Civilizations' History and Spiritual Transformation

I. Formation and Legacy of Jerusalem: Inter-civilizational Background

II. Efforts to Destroy Jerusalem and the Defiant City Spirit: Babylonians and Romans

III. The Recovery of City Spirit and Continuity: Omar, the Ayyubids and the Ottomans

IV. Attempts to Establish a One-Dimensional City: Crusaders and Israel

10. Cairo and Civilizational Interaction: The Transformative Power of Place

I. Civilizational Interaction of Internal and External Elements

II. Civilizational Encounters of Intellectual/Spiritual Legacy of Humankind

III. Civilizational Pluralism: Cultural Fabric and Architectural Heritage

11. Istanbul: A Civilization-Blending Subject City

I. Istanbul as an Ancient Synthesis Between Two Diverse Constituent/Pioneer City Prototypes: Rome and Medina

II. Conquest and Reconquista: The Two Faces of Military Expansion in Europe

III. Istanbul as the Pivot City of Civilizational Transformation

IV. City Culture and Architectural Change