Unit 7: Cultures, Civilizations and International Politics

Introduction

In the post-Cold War world, the global resurgence of religion and the return of cultures and civilizations to the politics in general and to the international politics in particular have resulted in a discussion on how this so called resurgence or return has emerged and how it is expected to affect the foreign policies of the nation states and international politics in a broader sense. In addition, day by day, under the general frameworks of identity and identity politics, the closely related notions of religion, culture and civilization seem to become more manifest not only in determining national identities but also in blurring the boundaries of the nation states in close connection with the globalization process. That is why the analysis of the increasing role of cultural and civilizational dimesion in international politics is related to the effects of globalization on the nation state.

Conceptual and Historical Framework

The Interaction of Cultures, Religions and Civilizations

Culture, civilization and religion are among the factors that contribute to the formation of identity. Each has more than one definition and each can be regarded as components of both individual and communal identities. These concepts are in permanent interaction; and defining any of them may necessitate reference to the other two. However, they do not automatically refer to each other and the division lines among cultures, civilizations and religions on the world map do not always overlap.

Culture

Culture comprises a variety of factors associated with a community such as shared language, shared belief systems, ethical codes, worldview, lifestyle and traditions. These factors shape the group identity and they mark a resemblance within the thoughts and behaviours of the members of a community and differentiate them from nonmembers. Human agency is a critical factor in the inheritance and adoption of a culture since the culture of a community is not biologically inherited but learnt from the older generations.

At the communal level, the term “culture” has three meanings sometimes overlapping each other. Firstly, culture refers to the endeavours of both people and communities in the artistic and scientific fields such as fine arts, literature, civil engineering, etc. towards reaching a point of perfection. Secondly, the term culture is used to mark the products of these endeavours. While these products carry the distinctive features of the national or civilizational cultures they have been produced within, they are also currently regarded as sources of inspiration for the humanity in general. Thirdly, culture is used to mark the common features of the communal life, and consequently highlights its distinctive features.

Religion

Linguistically, in its traditional framework, the term “religion” was derived from the Latin word “religio” which means “the respect for what is sacred”. It was first used to define the Pagan belief system of the Roman Empire. Following the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, the term “religion” started to become associated with Christianity; and this approach persisted until the end of the Middle Ages.

The concept of religion does not have a strict definition and the meaning(s) attributed to religion may also differ from one religion to the other. Sociologically, religion can be defined in three ways which do not challenge but complete each other and which will be helpful for us to understand the role of religion in international politics. These three definitions are classified as substantial, functional and family resemblance model definitions.

The Invention of Civilization: A Modern Approach

Civilization, in its general definition, is “the stage of human social development and organization which is considered most advanced”. Either ancient or modern, civilizations do not extinguish but continue to form or affect our identities both at the personal and communal level. The concept of being civilized is meaningful both at the personal level and at the all encompassing levels of humanity.

Modernity, Secularism and the Emergence of the Nation State

The emergence of the idea of secularism in Europe and its spread to the other regions of the world is a consequence of the political, economic, religious, cultural and scientific developments that occured in Europe beginning from the 16th century. First of all, a series of developments in the fields of economics and politics took place in Europe. Secularism, as a notion referring to the separation of religous institutions from the state, resulted in the seperation of public and private spheres of the human life. Consequently, religion lost its prominence as an ideological tool to provide a bond between the state and the citizen.

Identitiy Politics in the 20th Century

Due to two main reasons “identity building” projects became long lasting sources of internal and external conflicts. Firstly, the notion of national identity is a vague concept and can not be limited to the life span, territority or developmental policies of a particular nation state. In addition to civilizational roots, religion, culture and many other factors such as ethnicity, a common past, the political system and geopolitics play an important role in the formation of national identity. Secondly, as Girard suggests, identities are constructed over “against someone or something else”. This construction at the individual level can be extended to the levels of the community and the nation or the adherents of a religion.

The Cold War Period

Following the World War II, the world was theoretically seperated into two ideological camps named as the Western Bloc led by the United States of America (US) and the Eastern Bloc led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

However, another classification in terms of their economic development divided the countries in the world into three groups: First World (Developed Western countries) Second World (Communist countries) Third World (Developing countries including but not entirely composed of the former European colonies).

The Emergence of Identity Politics as a Source of Conflict in the Post-Cold War World

The ideological rivalry was an important source of conflict during the Cold War period. In the aftermath, divisions based on cultural and religious differences immediately took the place of the ideological rivalry. Following the collapse of the USSR, the world witnessed the “renewed assertion of national identities” and religious identities being featured as distinguished components of national identities both in the former USSR territories and in the former communist countries in general.

The first wave occured in the aftermath of the World War I due to the dissolution of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires; and it resulted in the emergence of nation states in a wide geography comprising regions from Europe, Asia and Africa. The second wave occured due to the process of decolonization. This process started in the aftermath of the World War II and lasted until the 1970s. Both of the waves and especially the second one also contributed to the emergence of the Global South. The third and the last wave, as mentioned above, was the result of the dissolution of the bipolar world system of the Cold War during the 1990s.

The Response of the IR Theory

The main unit of analysis in the discipline of IR is the nation state which first emerged in Europe during the 17th century and was disseminated to the other parts of the world as a role model since then. IR has emerged as a discipline in social sciences mainly in the early 20th century and focused on the interaction of nation states with a strong emphasis on the pervasiveness of the secular nation state model as a basis of the modern international system.

Culture and Religion in a Globalized World

Culture and Globalization

There is a complex relationship between culture as a representative of religious and civilizational identities and globalization. Globalization, besides the promotion of economic homogenization based on capitalism, promotes cultural and social homogenization and supports the dissemination of the Western values. At the same time, it blurs both the territorial and political boundaries of the nation states and paves the way for the assertion. of subnational, regional or global identities based on cultural, religious and civilizational affinities.

Globalization and Religion: The Global Resurgence

In contemporary politics, religious activism as a component of conflict and opponency to the state mechanism reveals itself in two ways. The first one is the assumed role of religious differences as a source of conflict. However, studies have revealed that even the conflicts which are infamously known as conflicts between the adherents of different religions; activists, terrorists or politicians turn to the religious discourse to support their claims although the sources of conflicts are mainly about economic benefits, the division of resources or social recognition. The second feature of contemporary religious activism serving as a source of opposition and conflict is the contradiction between the idea of modern nation state as a product of the Enlightenment process and the religion.

The Civilizational Dimension in Contemporary International Politics

The very early response to these developments by the Western world was the assumption that the history had come to an end with the victory of the Western civilization over communism. According to Fukuyama, what was witnessed was “not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government