secular revolutions and religious counterrevolutions /
First Statement of Responsibility
Michael Walzer
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
xiv, 172 pages ;
Dimensions
22 cm
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
The paradox of national liberation -- The paradox illustrated : Zionism vs. Judaism -- The paradox denied : marxist perspectives -- The future of national liberation -- Postscript
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"Many of the successful campaigns for national liberation in the years following World War II were initially based on democratic and secular ideals. Once established, however, the newly independent nations had to deal with entirely unexpected religious fierceness. Michael Walzer, one of America's foremost political thinkers, examines this perplexing trend by studying India, Israel, and Algeria, three nations whose founding principles and institutions have been sharply attacked by three completely different groups of religious revivalists: Hindu militants, ultra-Orthodox Jews and messianic Zionists, and Islamic radicals. In his provocative, well-reasoned discussion, Walzer asks why these secular democratic movements have failed to sustain their hegemony: Why have they been unable to reproduce their political culture beyond one or two generations? In a postscript, he compares the difficulties of contemporary secularism to the successful establishment of secular politics in the early American republic--thereby making an argument for American exceptionalism but gravely noting that we may be less exceptional today"--
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Democracy-- Developing countries, Case studies
Political culture-- Developing countries, Case studies
Religious fundamentalism-- Developing countries, Case studies