Author: United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe Publisher: ISBN: Category : Ecclesiastical law Languages : en Pages : 30
Author: United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe Publisher: ISBN: Category : Ecclesiastical law Languages : en Pages : 23
Author: John Van Oudenaren Publisher: Cornell University Press ISBN: 1501775774 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 242
Book Description
Through the lens of James Billington and the institution he led as Librarian of Congress during a key period of US-Russian relations, The Geopolitics of Culture examines culture as a neglected area of US foreign policy. Billington advised presidents and members of Congress and mobilized the resources of the Library of Congress to promote reform in Russia. He believed that rather than preaching to the Russians, the United States should expose the rising generation of Russian leaders to what was best in America and encourage them to rediscover positive elements in pre-Bolshevik Russian culture. The Geopolitics of Culture is the first book to chronicle Billington's influence on US engagement with Russia as it transitioned from communism to democracy under Gorbachev and Yeltsin and back to authoritarianism under Yeltsin and Putin. Drawing on published and archival sources (including recently released papers) and interviews with current and retired Library of Congress staff members, John Van Oudenaren casts new light on this era. Billington's efforts led to a remarkable degree of cooperation between the Library of Congress and Russian cultural and political institutions. Yet these efforts ultimately failed as Putin turned back toward authoritarianism. The experience of the Library of Congress during this period nonetheless holds important lessons for today. Billington believed that a transition to democracy in Russia was essential if the United States was to head off the geopolitical nightmare of a Eurasia dominated by an alliance of hostile authoritarian powers. The "geopolitics of culture" thus remains a challenge for US foreign policy.
Author: Eileen Barker Publisher: University of Ottawa Press ISBN: 276030535X Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 264
Book Description
Originale, insolite, renaissante, l'action religieuse émergente bouscule les habitudes, ébranle les certitudes, construit ici, maintenant, l'autre monde. Peut-on courir le risque ? Voilà que la question se pose et se résout en rumeurs publiques, poursuites judiciaires et tensions scolaires, lesquelles mettent à nu des mécanismes inédits d'institutionnalisation de l'expérience religieuse en modernité groupes tactiques d'intervention, cellules gouvernementales de crise, commissions parlementaires, cercles technocratiques précurseurs d'une ingénierie pluraliste. Sur fond de traditions religieuses, nationales ou républicaines, avec la perspective de la menace sectaire, s'esquisse sous nos yeux un religieux correct, acceptable. Comment est-il possible aujourd'hui d'inscrire l'exceptionnel, l'originel, le merveilleux, le transcendant religieux dans le quotidienne ? Et dans quelle mesure, paradoxalement, les gestionnaires de dieux ne repoussent-ils pas toujours plus loin la frontière religieuse ? -- By their nature, emerging religions explore unfamiliar territory and probe unchartered regions of human creativity. For these same reasons, religious transactions that venture beyond the boundaries of traditional religious frontiers often rouse suspicion, anxiety or even fear among the general population. As new religious movements seek to carve out their own niche in society, public controversy and opposing beliefs can spark bitter debates, and can even lead to calls for state intervention. How then do new or borderline religious groups negotiate or mediate the building of public space? What impact can the media have on new religions? How does the law withstand the "creative destruction" of religious innovation? In this provocative collection of essays, twelve experienced specialists break new ground in the sociological study of religion. Publié en français