This
essay is divided into five sections. We begin by reflecting on civilizational
dialogue in the first epoch, the autochthonous epoch, before we move on to the
second epoch, the colonial epoch. The third epoch, which receives most
attention, is the contemporary epoch, which will focus on globalization and
civilizational dialogue. This will be followed by a discussion on the reaction
to certain patterns of power and dominance associated with globalization in the
contemporary epoch. The fifth and final section of the essay will explore the
alternative—meaning the alternative to the communal response to the identity
crisis in contemporary civilizations.
*This
paper was originally published on www.islam21.net.
Republished with permission from the author.
**
Chandra
Muzaffar is the
President of the International Movement for a Just World, which seeks to raise
public awareness of the moral and intellectual basis of global justice. A
political scientist, he was the first Director of the Centre for Civilisational
Dialogue at the University of Malaya and has also written numerous books on
religion, human rights, Malaysian politics, and international relations,
including most recently, Rights, Religion, and Reform (Routledge Curzon, 2002.)
Additionally, he sits on the boards of several international non-governmental
organizations concerned with social justice and civilizational dialogue.
