A Union of Civilizations

In this age of confrontation, the secular Turkish model has been seen as a bridge between Islam and the West as well as the link between Europe and Asia. Now that model faces the most severe test in its history. How the current crisis is settled will frame future relations between Islam and the West no less than the events of 9/11.     

The Clash of Civilizations Revisited

If ever proof were needed of Samuel Huntington's idea that “relations between societies in the coming decades are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments” it can be found in Ayaan Hirsi Ali's experience as a woman standing up against traditional Islamic culture while living in Europe. In this section, both Samuel Huntington and Ayaan Hirsi Ali discuss the continuing clash of cultures in what Hirsi Ali calls our “age of confrontation.”     

The Clash of Civilizations Revisited

Going through a protracted period of transition since the end of the Cold War, the world order in the making is neither what was nor what it is yet to become. It is in “the middle of the future.” To get our bearings in this uncertain transition, we explore the two grand post‐Cold War narratives—“The End of History” as posited by Francis Fukuyama and “The Clash of Civilizations” posited by the late Samuel Huntington. Mikhail Gorbachev looks back at his policies that brought the old order to collapse. The British philosopher John Gray critiques the supposed “universality” of liberalism and, with Homi Bhabha, sees a world of hybrid identities and localized cultures. The Singaporean theorist Kishore Mahbubani peels away the “veneer” of Western dominance. Amartya Sen, the economist and Nobel laureate, assesses whether democratic India or autocratic China is better at building “human capacity” in their societies.     

中国与世界文明交汇的新篇章——写于中国2010年上海世博会开幕之际

百年期盼,八年筹办。火树银花上海夜．绚丽缤纷黄浦江。2010年4月30日晚．在多国元首和亿万观众的见证下．举世瞩目的2010年上海世博会拉开了惟幕。     

多种文明视角下的中东欧社会发展

从古到今,无论在地理位置上还是地缘政治上,处于西欧和东欧之间的中东欧地区都十分重要。由于受不同文明的影响和东西方大国的控制,该地区的民族和国家在很大程度上不能为自己做主,社会发展带有极强的被动性。这是观察正在集体回归西欧的中东欧社会发展的一个重要视角,有助于发现其历史发展逻辑和潜在的动因。文明归宿上的困惑和政治定位上的摇摆是中东欧社会发展的常态,而在其自身认同和同东西方大国对它们的认同上的矛盾会长久存在。     

普京接班人初现端倪

11月14日,普京总统在内阁会议上宣布,任命俄总统办公厅主任梅德韦杰夫为联邦政府第一副总理,国防部长伊万诺夫为副总理兼任国防部长,秋明州州长索比亚宁接任总统办公厅主任,巴什基尔共和国检察长科诺瓦洛夫任总统驻伏尔加河沿岸联邦区全权代表,喀山市市长伊斯哈科夫任总统驻俄远东联邦区全权代表.普京任总统以来进行的第二次大规模人事调整立刻引起了俄各方的关注.     

Globalization Is Running Out of Fuel

Globalization may not be coming apart at the seams—yet—but the seams are ever more apparent. Rising fuel prices challenge a model of global transportation based on cheap energy, reinforcing the possibility of decoupling through great regionaliza‐tion of trade. Already, 50 percent of trade among ASEAN plus China and Japan is among each other. The Wall Street meltdown has spread a lack of confidence in the American financial system and the model of deregulation which stimulated rapid globalization of capital flows. Along with other developments, all this raises the question of whether the United States is prepared to operate successfully in a world it no longer dominates. An anti‐globalization leader, a former US labor secretary, a top American intellectual and a Nobel laureate address these issues.     

警惕美国的“地区冷战思维”

近来,原本安宁平静的中国近海突然波诡云,大有山雨欲来之势。先有乔治·华盛顿号核动力航母将参加美韩联合军演的鼓噪,后是国务卿克林顿·希拉里在东盟外长论坛上的煽动。美国在涉及中国核心利益的区域频频对华发难,还试图拉帮结派、站队划线,令人联想起了冷战这个本该躺在故纸堆里的旧词。