An attempt to identify America's enemy in the war on terror and why it is so hard for Americans to name the enemy. An explanation of why Islamic law should be declared sedition.

Despite predictions of continuing secularisation, the twenty-first century has witnessed a surge of religious extremism and violence in the name of God. In this powerful and timely book, Jonathan Sacks explores the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, focusing on the historic tensions between the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Drawing on arguments from evolutionary psychology, game theory, history, philosophy, ethics and theology, Sacks shows how a tendency to violence can subvert even the most compassionate of religions. Through a close reading of key biblical texts at the heart of the Abrahamic faiths, Sacks then challenges those who claim that religion is intrinsically a cause of violence, and argues that theology must become part of the solution if it is not to remain at the heart of the problem. This book is a rebuke to all those who kill in the name of the God of life, wage war in the name of the God of peace, hate in the name of the God of love, and practise cruelty in the name of the God of compassion. For the sake of humanity and the free world, the time has come for people of all faiths and none to stand together and declare: Not In God's Name.

This book considers the contemporary challenge of government in multicultural societies.

The increasingly multicultural fabric of modern societies has given rise to many new issues and conflicts, as ethnic and national minorities demand recognition and support for their cultural identity. This book presents a new conception of the rights and status of minority cultures. It argues that certain sorts of `collective rights' for minority cultures are consistent with liberal democratic principles, and that standard liberal objections to recognizing such rights on grounds of individual freedom, social justice, and national unity, can be answered. However, Professor Kymlicka emphasises that no single formula can be applied to all groups and that the needs and aspirations of immigrants are very different from those of indigenous peoples and national minorities. The book discusses issues such as language rights, group representation, religious education, federalism, and secession - issues which are central to understanding multicultural politics, but which have been surprisingly neglected in contemporary liberal theory.

International legal scholar Kenneth Anderson analyzes US-UN relations in each major aspect of the United Nations' work-security, human rights and universal values, and development-and offers workable, practical principles for US policy toward the United Nations. He addresses the crucial question of whether, when, and how the United States should engage or not engage with the United Nations in each of its many different organs and activities, giving workable, pragmatic meaning to "multilateral engagement" across the full range of the United Nations' work.

This useful two-volume set will provide buyers of subject encyclopedias with a substantial amount of valuable information they can use in making their purchasing decisions. It will also provide all types of librarians and their patrons with a quick, one-stop method for locating the appropriate subject encyclopedias for their needs and for locating articles in the 100 encyclopedias. Librarians who specialize in bibliographic instruction will also find it to be a useful tool for teaching students how to locate needed information.

The population and technology explosions are shrinking the world to a system in which everything is interactive, forcing us to transcend traditional modes of thinking. In this book, the authors set forth the concept of multiple perspectives: technical, organizational, and personal. They begin the book with a multiple-perspective examination of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, a case that foreshadows the intensifying problem of managing hazardous technology in the coming decades. They then apply this approach, on a much larger scale, to the United States in the evolving global setting. Included in the discussion are issues such as the balance between short-term and long-term concerns and between individual and societal responsibilities. The interdependence and inseparability of the three perspectives is reflected in the focus on technological superiority, organizational rethinking, and imaginative personal leadership. This book will help managers and students in business, engineering, science, and policymaking break away from exclusive concern with the technical perspective and thus help prepare them for the challenges of a new era.

The debate over America's multiculturalism has been intense for nearly three decades, dividing opponents into those insisting on such recognition and those fearing that such a formal acknowledgment will undermine the civic bonds created by a heterogeneous nation. Facts have often been the victim in this dispute, and few works have successfully attempted to present the broad spectrum of America's ethnic groups in a format that is readable, current, and authoritative. The chapters in this reference book demonstrate that America has been far more than a nation of immigrants; it has been a nation of peoples—of virtually all races, religions, and nationalities—inclusive of indigenous natives and peoples long present as well as myriad immigrant and refugee groups. Not all groups have equally found America to be a land of opportunity, and the successes of some groups have come at the expense of others. To understand the American experience, the reader must not just study the story of immigrants living on the East Coast, but also the history of those living in the South, Southwest, West, and even Alaska and Hawaii. As a reference book, this volume provides thorough coverage of more than two dozen racial, ethnic, and religious groups in the United States. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and overviews the experiences of one group or a cluster of related groups. The chapters are arranged alphabetically and cover groups such as African Americans, American Indians, Filipinos, Hawaiians, Mexicans, Mormons, and Puerto Ricans. To the extent possible, each chapter discusses the initial arrival of the group in America; the adaptation of the first generation of immigrants; the economic, political, and cultural integration of the group; and the status of the group in contemporary American society. Each chapter closes with a bibliographical essay, and the volume concludes with a review of the most important general works on America's multicultural heritage.

This groundbreaking book contributes to, and refocuses, public debates about the incorporation of plural approaches into the English legal system. The book specifically advances the recent, largely theoretical, discussions of Sharia legal practice by examining a secular method of dispute resolution as practised by the Kurdish Peace Committee in London. Following migration to the West, many Kurds still adhere to traditional values and norms. Building on these, they have adapted their customary legal practices to create unofficial legal courts and other forms of legal hybridisation. These practical solutions to the challenges of a pluralistic life are seen by Kurdish communities in the UK as applicable not only to British and transnational daily life, but also as a training ground for institutions in a possible future Kurdish state. The study provides a substantive evidence base using extensive ethnographic data about the workings of the Kurdish Peace Committee, examining detailed case studies in the context of the customs and practices of the Kurdish community. Based on an ethnographic and interdisciplinary approach, this book will be of interest to policy makers, socio-legal professionals, students and scholars of legal anthropology, ethnic minority law, transnationalism, diaspora, Kurdish, Turkish and Middle Eastern studies.

Iran is now at the center of political and social developments in the Middle East. This book examines the reform of the judicial system in 20th century Iran and is the first to relate state-building process with rule of law promotion and judicial reform in the region. This subject occupies the critical juncture of three developments in the contemporary study of Iranian society as an important and early case of social revolution and reform in the Middle East: the state-building process in a non-Western country throughout the 20th century, the incorporation of a non-Western Muslim country into the Western legal framework through codification and transplantation (1911-1979), and the Islamicization process after this critical social development and the Islamic Revolution of 1979. This exceptional study furthers our understanding of Iranian modern history as well as the democratization process, human rights and rule of law issues in the Middle East.