Power of a Third Kind: The Western Attempt to Colonize the Global Village

(Hardback)

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To many Westerners and non-Westerners alike, the world appears to be on a course of instability with immeasurable consequences. Near-total power seems to lie in the hands of the West. Advances in communications technologies have truncated distance; the concept of sovereignty - the traditional cornerstone of international relations and international organizations - has been diminished in advance of a viable alternative; and change has created fissures in the edifice of national discourse faster than nations can respond. It is incumbent upon non-Western countries to steer out of this course in time to protect their history and the integrity of their cultures. This work constitutes an examination of the impact of control of communications worldwide by the West and what non-Western peoples can do to defend against Western domination. Nazer does not reject Western constructs because they are foreign, but seeks to recognize merits in democracy and calls for agreement on basic human rights. But such ideas, he insists, cannot be successfully realized by assuming the universality of Western democracy and human rights. For these constructs to prosper in non-Western cultures, they must evolve within the context of local cultures that have flourished for centuries. To do otherwise would create more instability.

Reviews

"[This] is truly an intellectual tour de force. The breadth of interests, revealed not least in the multi-disciplinary bibliography, is quite astounding. [Nazer's] thorough synthesis of such a breadth of scholarship provides much intellectual grist for discussions of power and the relationships between states."-David M. Abshire Vice Chair, Board of Trustees Center for Strategic and International Studies
"Designed to stimulate Hisham Nazer's fellow intellectuals in the developing world to think critically and reflectively about the challenges they face today, the book deserves a wide and attentive audience, both in the West and beyond."-Lisa Anderson Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs Columbia University
"Power of a Third Kind is at once a thoughtful, thought-provoking, and at times controversial analysis of the pervasive impact of our Western-dominated electronic age on the rest of the world. Author Hisham Nazer places a timely, provocative wake-up call to non-Western elites to become more pro-active before their cultures are "colonized.,."and in the process offers all of us--regardless of nationality--much-needed food for thought."-Walter L. Cutler Former American Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Tunisia, Zaire

Author Bio

HISHAM M. NAZER is Chairman of the Nazer Group of Saudi Arabia./e He has spent 38 years in public service, 28 as a cabinet minister. As Saudi Arabian Minister of Planning, he wrote the first five development plans of the Kingdom, guiding their implementation from 1970 onward. From 1986 to 1995, Mr. Nazer served as the Minister of Petroleum, presiding over the restructuring and integrating of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, providng it with footholds in downstream operations in the United States, Korea, the Philippines, and Europe. At that time, he also served as the Chairman of Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world.