A user's guide to the crisis of civilization and how to save it / Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ahmed, Nafeez Mosaddeq.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social change.

Crises.

Civilization, Modern--21st century.

Civilization, Modern.

East and West.

Crisis management.

Human ecology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Pluto Press ; New York : Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It often seems that different crises are competing to devastate civilisation. This book argues that financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages need to be considered as part of the same ailing system. Most accounts of our contemporary global crises focus on one area, such as climate change, or the threat of terrorism, to the exclusion of others. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed argues that the unwillingness of experts to consider crises from an interdisciplinary perspective, has resulted in their failure to understand historical events. From ecology and the environment, to political governance, the global economy and international relations, Ahmed investigates contemporary crises, not as isolated events, but as trends and processes that belong to a single global system. Ahmed posits that we are therefore not dealing with a 'clash of civilisations', as Samuel P. Huntington argued. Rather, we are dealing with a fundamental crisis of civilisation itself.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction

BETWEEN DANGER AND HOPE

THE INVISIBLE CRISIS

THE FAILURE OF CIVIL SOCIETY

THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVILIZATION

THE CORE ARGUMENT

STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENT

1. Climate Catastrophe

A DEBATE RESOLVED? CURRENT CLIMATE CHANGE IS UNEQUIVOCALLY ANTHROPOGENIC

NATIONAL SECURITY ALERT

RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE

ABRUPT CHANGE THROUGH 'TIPPING POINTS'

A SYSTEMIC FAILURE

2. Energy Scarcity

ENERGY AND SOCIETY

QUICK ALTERNATIVES TO CONVENTIONAL OIL?

3. Food Insecurity

THE GLOBAL FOOD EMPIRE

PEAK FOOD?

4. Economic Instability

THE PROBLEM OF 'GROWTH'

GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

5. International Terrorism

HYDROCARBON OVER-DEPENDENCE

AL-QAEDA AND POST-COLD WAR WESTERN COVERT OPERATIONS

THE 'REDIRECTION': AL-QAEDA SPONSORSHIP IN THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER 2003

6. The Militarization Tendency

EMPIRE

DEFENDING THE HOMELAND

7. Diagnosis - Interrogating the Global Political Economy

THE CONTINUUM OF CRISIS, AND CIVILIZATIONS AS COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS

STRUCTURAL AND SOCIO-SYSTEMIC DYNAMICS OF CAPITALISM

NEOLIBERAL COMPUTATIONAL FINANCE CAPITALISM

THE POLITICAL-LEGAL REGULATION OF THE GLOBAL IMPERIAL SYSTEM

CAPITALISM'S PHILOSOPHICAL BASE

8. Prognosis - The Post-Carbon Revolution and the Renewal of Civilization

Afterword

Notes and References

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781849647915

1849647917

9781849645584

1849645582

OCLC:

730517857