Religion and Humane Global Governance by Richard Falk

From the Publisher

Falk argues that the failure to achieve what he terms “humane global governance” is partially due to the exclusion of religious and spiritual dimensions of human experience from the study and practice of government. The book begins with a section on dominant world order trends and tendencies with respect to global governance. This is followed by consideration of the extent to which these recent world order trends that are shaping the historical situation at the end of the second millennium are also creating a new, unexpected opening for religious and spiritual energies, a development that has problematic as well as encouraging aspects. This religious resurgence is also discussed as part of the double-edged relevance of religion to global governance. The final section argues in support of the inclusion of emancipatory religious and spiritual perspectives in world order thinking and practice, along with an enumeration of potential contributions.

William E. Connolly

Falk once again cuts through the dross to ... show us why traditional ideas about the state and nation need to be reworked.

David Ray Griffin

Falk in this important work argues that the creation of a humane form of globalization will require a religiously inspired transnational movement.

Harvey Cox

For decades scholars of International Relations have either ignored religion as a significant factor or viewed it in essentially negative terms. Now Richard Falk has broken the log jam...

Joseph Williamson

[Falk's] vision of a 'politically engaged spirituality' is the key to the transformation of both the religious and the political drama of human history.

Publishers Weekly

In this eloquent treatise on religion and globalization, Princeton University international law professor Falk has an agenda. He is even preachy in parts, but his message is one that cannot be ignored. Falk is concerned about an inhumane globalization that neglects human suffering and eschews the global public good. Thus he augments his earlier works (Human Rights Horizons, etc.) on questions of global governance by considering the potential role of religion therein. The prospects for a "humane global governance," he states clearly, depend on religious resources specifically, on whether the religious resurgences that have surprised so many in recent years can offer a socially and politically responsible globalization to counter the presently dominating inhumane form. In light of this, he calls for (and articulates) a "critical ethical ecumenism" and a "politically engaged spirituality." Falk grounds this call for religiously based activism and governance in a richly historical conversation about ethical values, relationships between religion and politics, and interrelationships among premodern, modern and postmodern political impulses. Notably, alongside his unabashed view of religion's central role in human global governance, Falk dedicates a full chapter to considering the history of secularism's variations (with a discussion of Turkey, Iran and India, in addition to U.S. and Western European contexts) and its potentialities in an era of globalization. Through a sophisticated and nuanced discussion, Falk's own position cannot be missed: religion contains the only basis for long-term planetary stewardship and humane global governance. Love him or leave him. (Aug. 20) Copyright 2001Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents