Research Catalog

Title

Religion, terror, and error : U.S. foreign policy and the challenge of spiritual engagement / Douglas M. Johnston, Jr. ; foreword by Anthony Zinni.

Author

Johnston, Douglas M.

Publication

Santa Barbara, Calif. : Praeger, c2011.

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Holdings

Details

Description

xxi, 283 p. : ill., maps; 25 cm.

Summary

From the publisher. How should the United States deal with the jihadist challenge and other religious imperatives that permeate today's geopolitical landscape? Religion, Terror, and Error: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement argues that what's required is a longer-term strategy of cultural engagement, backed by a deeper understanding of how others view the world and what is important to them. The means by which that can be accomplished are the subject of this book. The work realizes three important tasks. It shows how the United States can reposition itself to deal more effectively with the causal factors that underlie religious extremism; offers a successor to the rational-actor model of decision-making that has heretofore excluded "irrational" factors like religion; and suggests a new paradigm for U.S. leadership in anticipation of tomorrow's multipolar world. Describing how the United States should realign itself to deal more effectively with the factors underlying religious extremism, this innovative treatise explains how existing capabilities can be redirected to respond to the challenge and identifies additional capabilities that will be needed to complete the task.

Series Statement

Praeger security international

Subject

• Religion and international relations
• Islam and international relations
• Intercultural communication > Religious aspects
• Islam and world politics
• United States > Foreign relations > Islamic countries
• Islamic countries > Foreign relations > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Beyond the rational actor -- A closer look at today's challenge -- The Muslim view of the West -- The western view of Islam -- Bridging the cultural divide -- A new framework for analysis -- Realigning the wheels of government -- Addressing the operational implications of church/state separation -- Developing a preventive engagement capability -- The American Muslim community : an asset-in-waiting -- Military chaplains : bridging church and state -- Capitalizing on the transnational capability of NGOs -- Dealing with the ideas behind the guns -- The ideas behind our own guns -- Toward a new paradigm -- Meeting the challenge of spiritual engagement.

ISBN

• 9780313391453 (alk. paper)
• 0313391459 (alk. paper)
• 9780313391460 (ebook)
• 0313391467 (ebook)

LCCN

^^2010040868

OCLC

662406060

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library