Jihad vs. McWorld - Benjamin R. Barber [0]
Although some countries or parts of countries fit into one or the other category, Jihad and McWorld are not so much places as reactions to experience and attitudes of mind. As Mr. Barber provocatively puts it: ‘Belonging by default to McWorld, everyone is a consumer; seeking a repository for identity, everyone belongs to some tribe. But no one is a citizen.’”
—The Economist
“Jihad vs. McWorld is that rare phenomenon—a book that is immensely readable, yet with a serious theme.”
—Government & Opposition
“Challenging and instructive.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Stimulating, tartly written.”
—Publishers Weekly
A BOOKLIST EDITORS’ CHOICE
BOOKS BY BENJAMIN R. BARBER
The Truth of Power (2001)
A Passion for Democracy (1998)
A Place for Us (1998)
Jihad vs. McWorld (1995)
An Aristocracy of Everyone (1992)
The Conquest of Politics (1988)
Strong Democracy (1984)
Marriage Voices (A Novel) (1981)
Liberating Feminism (1975)
The Death of Communal Liberty (1974)
Superman and Common Men (1971)
COLLABORATIONS
The Struggle for Democracy
with Patrick Watson (1989)
The Artist and Political Vision
edited with M. McGrath (1982)
Totalitarianism in Perspective
with C. J. Friedrich and M. Curtis (1969)
To the Memory of Judith N. Shklar
Acknowledgments
I was given extraordinary support by two research assistants. Carolyn Nestor did extensive work preparing the empirical materials for the chapters on McWorld, and also reviewed and corrected the notes and bibliographic materials on a crash schedule whose deadlines she met with remarkable aplomb. She acted as a sounding board for ideas and contributed far more than would be expected from a research assistant. I am very much in her debt. Mark Button helped develop research materials, theoretic and empirical, for the Jihad chapters, and was particularly astute in getting to the heart of alternative historical readings. Although the errors remain my own doing, the work of Nestor and Button saved me from what I know would have been many more.
Kathleen Quinn gave the finished manuscript several ruthless readings and readers owe her much for whatever fluency and continuity the text now has. Had she had her way, the book would have been even shorter and more readable, but someone had to take a stand for prolixity and I managed in the end to ignore rather too many of her sound editorial judgments.
Steve Wasserman at Times Books called me in Paris not long after my article on Jihad and McWorld appeared in The Atlantic and initiated a process of persuasion and discussion that led to this book. I am grateful to him for his enthusiasm and commitment, without which I would not have written the book. The same can be said of my old friend at The Atlantic, Jack Beatty, who encouraged me in developing a provocative idea into a sustainable argument.
Many friends, colleagues, associates, and anonymous commentators—both in the United States and abroad—have responded to the original Atlantic article, scholarly and popular presentations of the argument as it developed, and sections of the manuscript as it was being written. I feel lucky to have had so many astute critics who were also friends, among them Michael Kustow, François D’Alancon, Bhikhu Parekh, Ivan Vitanyi, Jean Leca, Preston King, Michael Greven, Bruce Ackerman, Ghita Ionescu, Brian Barry, Chantal Mouffe, George Kateb, Nina Belyaeva, Harry Boyte, Richard Lehne, Seyla Benhabib, Alan Ryan, and the consummate scholar and dear friend to whom the book is dedicated, Judith N. Shklar—who