Today, the majority of the peoples of the planet live in nation-states, based upon the idea, if never the reality, of a single people, a single culture, a single rule of law, and a single source of sovereign authority. But will they continue to do so in the future?
None of the major challenges that confront humanity today—from climate change to disease, from terrorism to mass migration—can be handled effectively by single nation-states, no matter how powerful. The world is no longer made up only of states but also of an ever-increasing multitude of interstate networks and organizations which recognize no borders. We are beginning to be able to imagine the very real possibility of a new global civil society. But what political form should this take?
By examining the history of the evolution of human society from the world's first empires to today's world of interstate networks, this book argues that there now exists the possibility of the emergence of a new political form, a global 'federation of federations', that will bring the species closer to the possibility of a more harmonious, equitable, and secure future.
In the tradition of Jared Diamond and Jacques Barzun, prize-winning historian Anthony Pagden presents a sweeping history of the long struggle between East and West, from the Greeks to the present day.
The relationship between East and West has always been one of turmoil. In this historical tour de force, a renowned historian leads us from the world of classical antiquity, through the Dark Ages, to the Crusades, Europe's resurgence, and the dominance of the Ottoman Empire, which almost shattered Europe entirely. Pagden travels from Napoleon in Egypt to Europe's carving up of the finally moribund Ottomans—creating the modern Middle East along the way—and on to the present struggles in Iraq.
Throughout we learn a tremendous amount about what "East" and "West" were and are, and how it has always been competing worldviews and psychologies, more than religion or power grabs, that have fed the mistrust and violence between East and West. In Pagden's dark but provocative view, this struggle cannot help but go on.
Cambridge professor and renowned historian Anthony Pagden covers a vast subject in a compact package with Peoples and Empires. This wide-ranging and intellectually stimulating work examines the origins and history of the West with terse, efficient prose. With a captivating narration by Robert O'Keefe, listeners will find this work enjoyable and utterly absorbing.
