Synopses & Reviews
Ali Mazrui makes us reconsider the realities of power in world politics. He argues that the emphasis continues to be on arms, on resources, and on strategic calculations and that the importance of culture has been grossly underestimated.
Mazrui's own mind is a cultural crossroads; he can give Islamic insights to Western audiences about The Satanic Verses; he relates the Beijing Spring to the Palestinian Intifada; he compares the effects of Zionism and Apartheid; he puts together Muhammad, Marx, and market forces; he tells the Americans that their attitude to the Third World is a "dialogue of the deaf."
The three sections of his masterful book are entitled The Cultural Sweep of History, Ideology and Power, and In Search of Change.
Review
In the great tradition of Plato's Socrates, Mazrui delights in teasing and provoking his reading public. The result is an urbane, clever, and somewhat disputatious work that challenges conventional and fashionable assumptions.African Studies Review
Synopsis
Ali Mazrui makes us reconsider the realities of power in world politics.
Table of Contents
PART I
The Cultural Sweep of History
The Moving Frontier of World Culture
Hegemony : From Semites to Anglo-Saxons
PART II
Ideology & Power
Muhammad, Marx & Market Forces
Cultural Treason & Comparative Censorship ; The Satanic Verses
The Moral Paradigms of the Superpowers
America & the Third World ; A Dialogue of the Deaf
On Race & Performance ; Negritude & the Talmudic Tradition
On Race and Conflict ; Zionism & Apartheid
On Youth & Revolution ; The Beijing Uprising and the Palestinian Intifadah
On Gender & Power ; A Post-Colonial Sexual Equation
PART III
In Search of Change
On Culture & Aid
Changing the Guards from Hindus to Muslims
The Third World & International Terrorism
Exit Visa from the World System