Non-Western Reflection on Politics

Recent rise of the non-Western parts of the world makes the need for a genuine global dialogue more urgent than ever before. To take an effective part in it, the West needs to face a conceptual challenge. The Western understanding of the political world is based on such deeply ingrained concepts as power, politics, statecraft, cooperation, multilateralism, dependence, identity or human rights. The Westerners tend to wrongly assume that everyone else is bound to share these concepts. This book shows that the reality is different. Investigating African, Asian, Islamic and Latin American political thinking, the book introduces non-Western concepts of politics as well as non-Western readings of seemingly familiar Western concepts. By doing this, it points to the obstacles to the global dialogue as well as to opportunities which may be exploited.

Autorentext

The contributing authors come from political science, international relations, anthropology or regional studies backgrounds. Both editors are affiliated with the Institute of International Relations, Prague. Petr Drulák is a professor at Charles University and sárka Moravcová lectures at the Metropolitan University Prague.

Inhalt

Contents: Petr Drulák: Introduction: For a Global Dialogue - Arlene B. Tickner: Core-Periphery Knowledge Exchange: The Case of Latin America - Francis B. Nyamnjoh: Politics of Back-Scratching in Cameroon and Beyond - Petr Kratochvíl: Islamic Democracy: A Contradiction in Terms? - Petr Drulák: Chinese Political Metaphysics: The Book of Changes - sárka Moravcová: The Liberation Project: A Mexican Experience - Petr Skalník: Chieftaincy and Political Culture: The Case of Ghana - MiloS Mendel: Dar al-Islam, Dar al-Harb and Hijra: Classical Paradigms in Modern Arab World - Wang Fan: Chinese Traditional Culture and East Asian Security Cooperation - Miroslav Jurásek: Dependence Theory: Comparing Latin America and Africa - Zora Hesová: Human Rights and Islam: Constitutional Debates in Egypt and Tunisia - Michal KolmaS: Multilateralism: United States and Japan - sárka Moravcová: Conclusion: Between Traditionalism and Westernisation.