World Affairs Research Articles

Tarekat Syadziliyah dalam Dimensi Kesalehan Individual dan Kesalehan Sosial serta Pengaruh Modernisasi dan Globalisasi

This study aims to unveil the veil of human existence which is influenced by the currents of modernization and globalization, and its role with God's servants (spiritual beings). The research link in modern humans is an unbalanced self condition. Because modern humans are like machines that are constantly driven by conditions or circumstances. In the study of Sufism, at least this paper tries to answer academic anxiety about the main teachings of the Syadziliyah Order and how to maintain the outer and inner dimensions of modern humans from the influence of modernization and globalization. This research model is based on qualitative with library research data collection methods. While the data processing method uses descriptive-analysis. From the results of the study, it can be concluded that the Tarekat Syadziliyah provides an alternative balance between the worldly and spiritual dimensions, as well as social and individual piety by, first, not recommending to its students to leave the world profession. Second, do not neglect in carrying out Islamic law. Third, zuhud does not mean staying away from and hostile to the world because basically zuhud is a matter of emptying oneself from other than Allah. Fourth, there is no prohibition for the salik to become a millionaire. Fifth, trying to respond to what is currently threatening people's lives, trying to bridge the spiritual drought with world affairs that plague people's lives. Sixth, Sufism is an exercise of the soul in the context of worship and placing oneself in accordance with His provisions. Seventh, as one of the goals of tarekat and Sufism experts, two ways can be obtained, namely: Mawahib or 'ain al-jud, namely the gift that God gives to the servant he wants. Furthermore, makasib or badzi al-majhud, namely ma'rifah, will be obtained when accompanied by hard work through riyadhah, mujahadah, al-dhikr, muladzamah wuhdu, fasting, sunnah prayers.

Brewing Violence: Foreign Investment and Civil Conflict

Two prominent features in current world affairs are the unprecedented level of global economic integration and the growing incidence of intrastate violence. We develop and test a novel argument linking global integration through foreign investment to intrastate armed conflict. The presence of multinational corporations in developing countries can cause market concentration, resulting in high rents. Disputes between governments and would-be challengers over the appropriation of these rents are likely to turn violent, increasing the incidence of armed conflict. State capacity mitigates this positive association between foreign investment and intrastate war. Strong states have the capacity to deter rebellions, address citizens’ demands through institutionalized mechanisms, and credibly commit to the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Using data from developing countries for over four decades and addressing potential endogeneity and selection biases, we find strong support for our hypotheses. Our findings have important implications for understanding the link between economic interdependence and conflict.

American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War by D.G. Hart

Reviewed by: American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War by D.G. Hart Raymond Haberski Jr. American Catholic: The Politics of Faith During the Cold War. By D.G. Hart. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2020. 280 pp. $29.95. The title of D.G. Hart's book presents the first and most central dilemma that faced Catholics in postwar America. What is the proper arrangement: Catholic Americans or American Catholics? Each choice has implications for the relationship between church and state, as well as the practical considerations for how Catholics fidelity to their "Church" (with a capital "C") influenced their allegiance to their nation—a point some Americans harped on constantly. Hart's book is the best I have read in laying out the contours of this relationship and the debate that surrounds it. In particular, he [End Page 71] provides the most succinct overview of Americanism, or the once heretical concept that Catholics in America faced a moral dilemma by accepting that their status as Americans influenced their faith. The stakes rested on how the Catholic Church viewed the right ordering of society and if the United States fundamentally challenged that view by enshrining the freedom to practice religion. In other words, because U.S. law regarded other religions just as legitimate as Catholicism, by what principle did Rome enforce its view that there was only one true faith? Hart provides a detailed and lively discussion of how conservative Catholics transformed this heresy into a new ideology by arguing that American intellectual foundations worked with rather than against a Catholic understanding of social order. Hart focuses on "politically conservative Roman Catholics, primarily in the world of opinion journalism and magazines, [who] made Americanism safe for the church" (7). Such a group includes writers who worked for William F. Buckley, Jr. at National Review and the friends and collaborators with Richard John Neuhaus at First Things. Hart chose not to include liberal or politically left Catholics in his analysis because those figures have challenged both the hierarchical power of the Catholic Church and the role of the United States as a redeemer nation—they were unimpressed with Americanism. The version of Americanism developed by conservative Catholics has had far-reaching influence on domestic affairs, including, of course, the abortion debate, and in foreign affairs, especially in terms of the Forever Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But before Hart engages the work of these neo-Americanists, he writes extensively about the influence of John F. Kennedy's presidential election and the work of John Courtney Murray, perhaps the most influential Catholic theologian of the Cold War era. Kennedy's election represented a turning point in the machinations of Americanism. Hart contends that "Kennedy's insistence on Protestant pieties such as church-state separation and American exceptionalism launched a new phase in the American Roman Catholic experience … But with a Roman Catholic as president endorsing the United States' redemptive mission in the world, Kennedy was crafting and promoting an Americanism that even popes had not considered" (64). JFK advanced a more generic American civil religion that showed how to invest American power with sacred meaning. If Kennedy made peace with Americanism, Murray demonstrated how to build a movement upon it. Much has been written on the pivotal role the Jesuit played in both American Catholic thought and as perhaps the key thinker behind drafting the Vatican's Declaration of Religious Freedom, a document that closed the Second Vatican Council. [End Page 72] "Murray's involvement in the sessions," Hart writes, "also allowed the church in the United States … to achieve a measure of pride in the way American Roman Catholicism helped redirect the church and its understanding of the modern world. That high estimate of the United States, which Murray himself cultivated, not only meant an end to Americanism. It also opened the way for Roman Catholics in the United States to regard their nation as Kennedy had said, as a city on a hill, a country as decisive in world affairs as Rome had once been" (87). Murray's achievement was to bequeath to conservative Catholics a "neo-Americanism" that positioned Catholics in the United States as...

Through the Looking Glass of Intimate Friendship and Common Enemies: Images of Sino–Soviet Relations in Chinese and Soviet Political Cartoons of the 1950s

This article examines Sino–Soviet relations in the 1950s through the medium of political cartoons in Manhua and Krokodil, satire magazines published in the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. Images of friendship and enmity produced an intricate narrative about world affairs and the paths of socialism and capitalism. By comparing the stories and visual representations in Krokodil and Manhua, this study underscores the similarities and contradictions existing between the Soviet Union and China in the years before their split. This approach provides an example of two ideological machines working to reflect unexpected shifts in alliances while maintaining a claim on the teleological coherence of socialist development. It also exemplifies the mechanics of visual propaganda under the stress of contradictory policies and purposes.

Civilization within the heart: the image and meaning of 'civilization' and 'culture' in Chinese characters.

'Civilization in Transition' was the theme of the JAP conference in 2021, and also the reality we are facing today, especially amidst the pandemic of COVID-19. From an oriental perspective, within the context of Psychology of the Heart, the author presents his thoughts in this paper, 'Civilization within the heart: the image and meaning of "civilization" and "culture" in Chinese characters'. The meaning of the heart is at the core of Chinese culture, as well as Chinese philosophy and psychology. Most of the basic psychological terms in Chinese characters are formed originally with the images of the heart; even the Chinese character for 'culture' and 'civilization'. C.G. Jung learned Chinese characters, and named them with I Ching symbols as readable archetypes. Today in world affairs we are confronted with highly turbulent and uncertain conditions that threaten any sense of coherent meaning, both personally and collectively. Jung's insights gained from the I Ching and his reflections on analytical psychology are still inspiring us. The images and meaning of the hexagrams which C.G. Jung used: 'Ting' (The Cauldron), 'Bi' (Grace), and 'Chin' (Progress), are the main threads of this paper and presentation, 'Civilization within the Heart', responding to the theme 'Civilization in Transition'.

Information Power and Russia’s National Security Objectives

Russia’s operations in the information domain are an integral part of Russia’s interactions in the international environment. As one of Russia’s levers of national power, information operations work in concert with all other levers of national power to achieve a defined list of Russia’s national security objectives. Judging from pronouncements, policies, doctrine, and actions, it appears that Russia’s objectives are: 1) Protect the Putin regime; 2) Control the post-Soviet space; 3) Counterweigh the unipolar actor in the world; 4) Portray Russia as an indispensable player in world affairs; and 5) Divide and disrupt the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Russian information operations can be traced through information themes directly to those Russian national security objectives. Some themes can address multiple objectives simultaneously, and the methods for communication can differ based on the target. However, Russian information operations are not standalone activities but work in concert with all other levers of national power to achieve Russia’s overarching objectives.

PENDIDIKAN KECERDASAN PERSPEKTIF AL QUR’AN DAN HADITS

Regarding the important element of human interaction with the physical and social environment, the Qur'an in a number of verses explains the importance of thinking about the universe and social life to gain knowledge about it which in turn can instill and increase faith in Allah SWT the Creator. In terms of intelligence in the element of human success in achieving goals, the Qur'an explains the main purpose of human life in the world is to serve or obey Allah SWT. This goal certainly does not prevent humans from determining good goals in their life in this world; even the Qur'an and Hadith remind people not to forget the importance of world affairs.

The Synthetic Role of Dialectics from Hegelianism and Taoism in Philosophical Investigation into the Complex Inter-civilisational and Human Development Issues

Both School of Hegalianism from the Western philosophy and School of Taoism from the ancient Chinese intellectual schools of thoughts can be unquestionably epitomised as two quintessential, enigmatic schools of dialectics, which to a large degree facilitate the intellectual researchers and scholars within the field of philosophy, humanities, social sciences and so forth to theoretically deconstruct and extrapolate the complex, authentic, objective world system and global human civilisations in a dialectical and synthetic fashion instead of the metaphysical and intuitive perspectives alone. In that regard, the hypothetical questions of 1) whether both Hegalianism and Taoism share certain implicit reciprocal conceptual components that may outweigh their explicitly diametrical diversity owning to the explicit heterogeneity in historical background, social development trajectory, and socioeconomic and politico-economic development pattern between the Agrarian Civilisation and the Oceanic Civilisation in history, and of 2) whether their intellectual thoughts and legacies of dialectics can accurately monitor and predict the infinite occurrence of inter-civilisational, international development issues and human development affairs may at least help to construct a thought-provoking theoretical guideline and framework, which are unquestionably worthy of profound theoretic investigation and empirical analysis. The ultimate purpose of this academic manuscript attempts to dialectically identify and deconstruct certain vital dissimilarities and complementarities between Hegelianism and Taoism and philosophically build a theoretical bridge that interconnects them for the sake of follow-up empirical analysis of their differentiated methodologies. Moreover, this paper seeks to in a dialectical fashion evaluate the availability, applicability and functionality of these two intellectual schools in a context of inter-civilisational and international development, especially pertaining to the underlying themes of global economic crisis and macroeconomic recovery, the unprecedented global climate crisis, and global COVID-19 pandemic with much insufficiency of global sanitation partnership reform and imbalanced means of production. This academic manuscript seeks to itemise and quantify the diverse conceptual components between Hegelianism and Taoism as well as qualitative comments on their potential areas that they might share and develop. Additionally, this paper attempts to undertake hermeneutic retrospectives of their legacies of dialectics and case studies of international, inter-civilisational development issues and human development issues. In a nutshell, on a basis of existential research findings so far, this paper draws preliminary conclusions that the reflexivity of dialectics from Hegelianism and Taoism helps to classify and clarify the implicit dogmatic principles that drive the advancement of global human development, and inter-civilisational development on the grounds of dialectical antithesis as the theoretical guidelines. On the other hand, neither of them can mostly accurately function as a guarantee for maximum prediction and monitoring of world affairs, which necessitates updated data elaboration, comprehensive out-of-box thinking mode, maximum interdisciplinary theoretical breakthroughs and discovery from a maximum dialectical, inter-civilisational perspectives. That can prevent the readers, scholars and researchers from falling into the idealistic solipsism.

The Republic of Cyprus and the Commonwealth in the 1960s

ABSTRACT Britain and other Commonwealth countries were reluctant to grant Cyprus full membership of the Commonwealth, but eventually conceded to accept full membership. There was also strong opposition to membership within Cyprus, and as a compromise the House of Representatives supported membership only for a provisional period of five years. However, at the end of the provisional period, the growing political and economic importance of the Commonwealth for Cyprus had convinced Cypriot MPs that withdrawing from the Commonwealth would not be a prudent option. The Commonwealth provided an additional forum to receive support on the Government’s position regarding the Cyprus Problem and allowed Cyprus to participate in world affairs and promote international co-operation. The particular case of the relationship of Cyprus with the Commonwealth is an example of a small state interacting with the organisation in order to pursue its own political objectives, while embracing the Commonwealth agenda as its own.

The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience during World War I ed. by Mark K. Christ

Reviewed by: The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience during World War I ed. by Mark K. Christ Marian Elizabeth Strobel The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience during World War I. Edited by Mark K. Christ. ( Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2020. Pp. x, 268. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-68226-126-2.) The one-hundredth anniversary of World War I has fostered numerous re-examinations of a conflict that shaped the modern world. Among these studies is The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience during World War I, a volume that contains the proceedings of two seminars sponsored by the Arkansas World War I Commemorative Committee and the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. While many retrospectives highlight the diplomatic and military aspects of the "War to End All Wars," this one wisely focuses on the home front, in a state that was 80 percent rural in 1918. The War at Home is inclusive in its content, paying special attention not only to military enlistments and industrial mobilization but also to women, common laborers, and African Americans during a time of rapid social, economic, and racial transformation. The authors, all of whom are prominent historians of Arkansas's past, present a cohesive and compelling story that links the World War I experience to the present. Especially powerful in this regard are the essays "Soldiers and Veterans at the Elaine Race Massacre" and "The Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and Its Legacy for Arkansas." Other fascinating entries focus on the woman suffrage crusade and on the rapid construction of Camp Pike and Little Rock's Picric Acid Plant. What is especially compelling is that matters of race and gender suffuse each essay and are integral to the stories told. Certain themes dominate. For many, service in the Great War became "a means to defend the valor of Confederate veterans and a way to defend the Lost Cause" (p. 12). Such a view makes clear the continuation of racial tensions in a heightened era of Jim Crow. Yet the efforts of all citizens of Arkansas, both Black and white, to win the war are integral to the volume. While hundreds of Arkansas men gave their lives in the conflict, women also made sacrifices. Women of all races assisted in the war effort whether through voluntary food conservation or through more formal Home Demonstration, Red Cross, and other work. Such efforts at times were stymied by anxious husbands who did not desire their wives to sign documents committing themselves to possible federal oversight or in support of a woman suffrage amendment. Tensions long evident in the South against the intervention of the federal government in state affairs remained. Yet the people of Arkansas proved themselves activists in their own right, be it through ingenious cantonment construction or labor agitation. On the latter topic, several essays provide confusing information on the resolution of the laundry workers' strike carried out by Black women workers during the war. Careful editing to eliminate possible contradictions in interpretation would have been helpful. The volume ends with a compelling essay titled "Paris to Pearl in Print." It is an astute examination of what Arkansas newspapers had to say about world affairs in the years between the Treaty of Versailles and the American entrance into World War II. Ignorance of world events seemed to be a key characteristic, as did pacifism and isolationism. Such a close reading of relatively rural media sources provides evidence of the prevailing views of many in the United States who hoped to remain free of foreign entanglements. Citizens of Arkansas had given their all to winning World War I and had little desire to be asked to do so [End Page 190] again, an ultimately hopeless wish. In 1917–1918, they had answered the call of a nation they had once fought to break apart. As The War at Home makes clear, they did so with dedication and enthusiasm. Marian Elizabeth Strobel Furman University Copyright © 2022 The Southern Historical Association

The scenography of entertainment in journalistic discourse

The newspaper is a discursive practice that aims to impart information to individuals, with a heavy burden of responsibility. Its pages contain news and reports about the different subjects of everyday social life, but there is a certain predisposition in news about violent incidents. Nonetheless, across all forms of media, it is possible to encounter a transgression of the genre’s characteristics. Given that problem, we seek to understand how journalistic discourse is presented as a scenography of the discourse of entertainment, pervaded by the discourse of violence. Moreover, we attempt to analyze how the strategies of journalistic discourse enable the construction of that scenography. To this end, we draw on the theoretical assumptions of Dominique Maingueneau (2008), Muchembled (2012), Michaud (1989) and Cano (2012) to achieve our objectives. We thus hope to contribute to discussions in the area of discourse analysis, particularly those on journalistic discourse. We understand that the strategies used by the newspaper enable an interaction with entertainment and that a subtle violence pervades this relationship. As a result, the reading public is not only informed about world affairs but also consumes violence and entertainment, through the scenography that is constructed.

Модель анализа идеологии во внешней политике

The article presents a theoretical model of how ideological concepts may impact the foreign political strategies of states. The author thinks that the necessity to build a more concrete understanding of the strategic goal setting process is more relevant these days due to the increasing ochlocratic influence on the governmental behavior in the international arena. The model is based on three logically intertwined pillars. The first of them analyzes the socio-psychological mechanism of the transformation of ideas into specific actions on the part of an individual or a collective body. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of ideologemes as compact expressions of normative attitude towards the surrounding events. The article also takes into consideration psychological predispositions that made the conversion of some ideas into actions more probable. The second pillar accounts for the decision-making process. It analyses the most significant elements of the mechanism, that determine how long-term national interests and specific goals are formulated within the political establishment, the expert and governmental officials’ community. The author also presents a vision in which an overall national might, presence or absence of political will define the spectrum of potentially made decisions. This approach can give a more detailed and concrete understanding of the nature of subjectivity in world affairs. The third pillar is based on the analysis of how a governmental actor perceives through its ideological lens its own interaction with the surrounding international environment. This pillar considers the actors’ self-positioning in the world, the foreign policy instruments this actor uses to affect external objects in order to fortify its place on the global stage. The model may be useful for research of the long-term foreign policy strategic planning, establishing specific criteria of effectiveness of its implementation, and forecasting the decision-making process.

Elements of Сritical Theory in BRICS: An evaluation of BRICS’ critique of global affairs

In the 1980s, Robert W. Cox (considered the “father of Critical Theory” in IR) envisioned that a counter-hegemonic movement could arise in the future from the multilateral alliance of less privileged States, which could resist the dominance of the central powers of the system. Almost three decades later, the 2008 Financial Crisis, the decline of the US hegemony (propelled by its unilateralist actions) and the rise of emerging economies all over the world resulted in a scenario of transformation and redistribution of power in international relations. In that context, a reformist movement driven by developing countries (some of them located geographically distant from one another), especially by the BRICS nations, voiced new demands for democratization of global governance at the international level, contesting the US and Western hegemony in world affairs and the underrepresentation of less-privileged States in important multilateral organizations. From the analysis of the conceptual framing of Critical Theory to the context behind the inception of BRICS and its positions in international relations, this article aims to explore the elements that could possibly connect the group to the interpretations undertaken by Critical Theorists, showing that the group does hold certain positions that can allow such an association.

К ВОПРОСУ О ПРАВОВОЙ СУЩНОСТИ РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫХ ИНТЕГРАЦИОННЫХ ОБЪЕДИНЕНИЙ

This article deals with the problem of defining the legal nature of integration associations, mainly regional, as well as with the issue of revealing their major role in world affairs. Notably, it is possible to clarify the legal essence of these entities if their individual features distinguishing integration associations from the existing form of interstate cooperation, in particular international organizations, are known. Of special interest are the characteristics of such regional integration associations that are based on larger associations, such as the Eurasian Economic Union, a trade agreement between several post-Soviet states, and the European Union, a political and economic association of European states. The relations of an international character developing during the interstate cooperation within the framework of regional integration associations were described with the help of the comparative and analytical methods. A comprehensive legal definition of the concept of regional integration associations was provided based on their unique features. The latter were analyzed in detail. The considered forms of interstate cooperation were compared with international organizations. The results obtained show that an integration association is a special form of interstate cooperation of a regional nature, which is aimed at the development of foreign economic relations between member states.

“It Is Favorable to the Forces of Socialism to Keep the Americans in South-East Asia Longer”. The Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee in the Determination of the Strategic Line of the USSR in the Second Indochina War of 1965

Based on a scrupulous review of a large body of documents from the Russian and some foreign archives, for the first time introduced into scholarly discourse, this article contemplates a period in the Soviet Union history, when the influence of the USSR in world affairs reached its maximum. It was a short by historical standards span, when the so-called “collective leadership” headed by Leonid I. Brezhnev, Alexei N. Kosygin and Nikolay V. Podgorny was at the helm of the Soviet state. The authors of the article show that it is unlikely that the transformation of the USSR into one of the superpowers would have been possible if not the US defeat in Indochina. With the aim of proving this premise, the authors have focused on the developments related to one of the turning points of the Cold War – the first half of 1965. In this context, the article closely analyses the course and results of the negotiations between Kosygin and the leaders of the DRV, PRC and DPRK. In fact, it was then, as evidenced by the researched documents, that the Soviet Union turned de facto from an observer into an actual participant in the Vietnam War (and, more broadly, the confrontation with the United States in the Far East) as part of the anti-American coalition of the USSR – PRC – DRV – DPRK. And although the authors are talking about a strategic plan in place – as it happens in real politics – and also in this case, it was born almost by accident, while the genuine masterminds of the geopolitical combination have remained in the shadow of history for many years.

International Status Concerns and Domestic Support for Political Leaders

AbstractWe study how international status concerns among the public affect support for political leaders, arguing that because status competition is pervasive in social life and because international status competition entails high‐profile displays of scientific or martial savvy, the public is likely to be attuned to the status implications of foreign policy crises. We test this argument in seven survey experiments across four issue areas. The results show that adverse outcomes in world affairs increase expectations of international status loss and, through that mechanism, reduce presidential approval. Analysis of open‐ended survey responses reveals that the public views international status in much the same way that international relations scholars do: it is multidimensional, positional, and instrumentally useful. Taken together, our results suggest that the public's international status concerns have significant implications for leaders and offer new insight into how the public parses the implications of events abroad.

THE US-RUSSIA RAPPROCHEMENT: THE (IM)POSSIBLE DIRECTION FOR A US FOREIGN POLICY

The authors of this paper examine the possible change of course in the United States foreign policy and strategic adjustment towards Russia in international relations. Although the United States were the sole superpower in the world after the end of the Cold War, the contemporary international system is marked by growing multipolarity. This change in the international arena is caused by the rise of two revisionist great powers – China and Russia. Although China represents the US’ main geopolitical rival, Russia does not lack the ambition to influence current world affairs. Possible relative gain in Sino-American rivalry for the United States could be achieved through closer cooperation with Russia. Although this hypothetical appeasement could be beneficial for the US, the authors of this paper take the stance that rapprochement between the two countries is currently unlikely. Using neoclassical realism as a theoretical framework, the paper examines the possible US-Russian strategic cooperation, including both external and internal factors that influence state foreign policy and strategic adjustment. The paper also examines the US opening to China during the Cold War under the administration of President Richard Nixon and compares it to the contemporary state of world affairs.

A Contest of Civilizations: Exposing the Crisis of American Exceptionalism in the Civil War Era by Andrew F. Lang

American exceptionalism has emerged as the leitmotif of recent calls to transform the field of United States history. Effervescent, elusive, and parochial as it may be, scholars know it when they see it. But, as Lang’s powerful work deftly shows, it was also historically contingent, precise, and internationalist.In A Contest of Civilizations, Lang places exceptionalist discourses front and center in the political crises of the Civil War era through a fine-grained reading of an impressive range of speeches, pamphlets, Congressional records, and personal papers. American citizens and statesmen alike emerge from Lang’s work comparing themselves habitually to an imagined turbulent, antidemocratic world of privileged aristocrats, reactionary monarchism, and overbearing imperialists. The result of this international gaze? “A powerful exceptionalist conviction that the United States remained a lone democratic nation surrounded by dangerous and radical influences”—if only Americans could agree on the meaning of Union (10). A Contest of Civilizations is a powerful synthesis and bold reappraisal of political ideas in the Civil War era.Lang’s crisis of exceptionalism unfolds in three acts. Part I, “Conceived in Liberty,” offers a sweeping survey of how the concept of Union shaped nineteenth-century American identities and how competing exceptionalist nationalisms (slaveholding and antislavery) pulled the union apart to invite the very fears of international conquest that haunted the American imagination. Part II, “Now We Are Engaged in a Great Civil War,” interprets the Civil War as a contested effort to preserve democracy from the international dangers posed by radical slaveholders and antislavery advocates whose competing exceptionalisms were not amenable to peaceful reconciliation. Part III, “Shall Not Perish from the Earth,” explores the contested effort to restore the republic and secure an enduring peace during Reconstruction. This final act casts the volume’s core argument as a tragedy. The shortcomings of exceptionalist discourse lay in the willingness to abandon the enforcement of racial equality for political stability, since to stand apart from the world’s political absolutisms Republicans eschewed the military centralization required to make racial equality endure.Attempting to avoid exceptionalist frameworks, historians have invested a great deal of energy in the past decade examining the global and transnational dimensions of the American Civil War. They have unpacked the War’s place in global imaginaries; plotted the intricate patterns of trade, exchange, and diplomacy that embedded the conflict in world affairs; and placed it in a global comparative context. Lang is clear that he is not deploying these methods (15). Instead, he is most interested in writing a history of exceptionalism: “Engaging mid-nineteenth-century American exceptionalism compels modern audiences to take seriously the concept as historical contemporaries understood and deployed it, and not as a validation or refutation of exceptionalism’s legitimacy” (10). Thus, his book is a history of political ideas, and a powerful one, rather than a work of interdisciplinary research.But Lang is not simply dismissive of global and transnational approaches. Rather, by drawing together recent insights from scholars of American nationalism, conservatism, and political stabilization, he demonstrates that Northern and Southern exceptionalisms were profoundly shaped by international (primarily Atlantic World) currents. Hence, he argues that Northern and Southern exceptionalisms were defined by a “conservative political culture” that aimed to “preserve a moderate republic within a seemingly radical, antidemocratic world” (12). The international threats were many, including the recrudescent empires of Old World monarchies, dangerous “Africanization” (a barbaric state conditioned by blackness), “Indianization” (a savage tribalism averse to progress), and “Mexicanization” (the apparent inability of Latin American nations to practice restrained and legitimate democracy).Yet, the task of preserving the Union was rendered impossible, because “competing and often discordant conceptions of civilization inhabiting the same republic” derived from slavery and freedom were irreconcilable (13). In this reading, Unionists and Confederates engaged in a contest to purge the United States from the malignant forces of antidemocratic, potentially uncivilized, internationalism and produced “affirming nationalisms that aimed to safeguard more than they destroyed” (15). As a result, the war came.

The U.S. Factor in Sino-Israeli and Indian-Israeli Relations

The article analyses the US influence on Israeli policy towards both China and India. The United States has had and still has a significant influence on the dynamics of Israeli-Chinese and Israeli-Indian relations. The relevance of the issue stems from the growing importance of China and India in the world affairs amid rising tensions between the US and China that are spilling into a trade war. The article aims to explore the US influence on Israels policy in Asia. It examines the way how the Israeli leadership has adapted to Washingtons influence while promoting its strategic cooperation with China and India. The study comprises historical method, comparative analysis and historical-systematic analysis. The author comes to the following conclusions. First, Washingtons influence on Sino-Israeli relations has gone through five development stages: the first stage (1971-1989): implicit US support for the development of Sino-Israeli relations; the second stage (1990-1998): American criticism of military and technical cooperation between Israel and China; the third stage (1999-2005): Washingtons shift from criticism to pressure policy in order to prevent the Israeli leadership from military cooperation with China; the fourth stage (2006-2016): Israels acceptance of US demands and refusal to supply arms to Beijing (with Tel Aviv focusing on the development of trade and economic relations with China); the fifth stage (2017 - present): U.S. criticism of Israeli-Chinese economic cooperation amid worsening contacts between Beijing and Washington. The Israeli government is trying to meet Washingtons demands as well as preserve its strategic economic relations with Beijing. Second, the US factor, on the contrary, contributed to normalization of Indian-Israeli relations, having a positive impact on the development of trade, economic and military cooperation between Tel Aviv and New Delhi. Third, the US actions can be explained by an attempt to preserve its national interests. At the same time, the author stresses that the US influence on Israels policy in Asia complies with Washingtons regional priorities set forth in the 2017 US National Security Strategy.

THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE OF NON-MUSLIM LEADERS IN INDONESIAN MUSLIM MAJORITY COMMUNITIES

One of the issues that often arise in the national politics and up to now is still warm is the rejection of non-Muslim leadership in the Muslim community. This problem arises due to differences in the views of scholars in understanding the verses of the Qur'an and the Hadith of the Prophet. In order to solve these problems, this article seeks to find sources of library data and then describes the reality of non-Muslim leadership in Indonesia. The results showed that the scholars differed in opinion regarding the permissibility of non-Muslim leaders. First, forbid choosing non-Muslim leaders because they have similarities in interpreting lafadz awliya 'with helpers and leaders. Second, they allow non-Muslim leaders for Muslim-majority areas because they hold the view that lafadz awliya' is no longer appropriate in the current context. In the perspective of Islam, a leader is called the caliph al-nubuwwah as the successor of the Prophet in world affairs, religion, or the state, therefore the law authorizing non-Muslims to handle the affairs of Muslims is haram, the law is like asking non-Muslims for help to fight rebels, and so on. as well as taking care of the affairs of the Muslims in general, this is in accordance with the letter al-Maidah verse 51 concerning the inability to control the administrative affairs of the Muslims to non-Muslims