Cosponsored with the Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford
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In this unit students learn about the origins of tea, its importance in world history, and cultural practices related to tea. Students also learn about chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, by studying its history and evolution in Japan.
This unit introduces students to a variety of art forms that flourished during the Edo period. This unit will feature Japanese feudal art from the Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute at the Clark Center, Hanford, California.
Prospects for Peace in South Asia, the inaugural title in a new series of "Studies of the Asia-Pacific Research Center" published by Stanford University Press, addresses the largely hostile, often violent relations between India and Pakistan that date from their independence in 1947. The persistent conflict between the two neighboring countries over Kashmir has defied numerous international attempts at resolution and entered its most dangerous phase when both India and Pakistan became nuclear powers in 1998.
The struggle over Kashmir is enduringly rooted in national identity, religion, and human rights. It has also influenced the politicization of Pakistan's army, religious radicalism, and nuclearization in both countries. This incisive volume analyzes these forces, their impact on relations between the two countries, and alternative roles the United States might play in resolving the dispute. While acknowledging the risks, the book is optimistic about peace in South Asia. The key argument is that many of the domestic concerns (such as territorial integrity in both countries and civilian-military rapprochement in Pakistan) that were fueling the conflict have abated.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction, by Rafiq Dossani and Henry S. Rowen
PAKISTAN: POLITICS AND KASHMIR
2. Islamic Extremism and Regional Conflict in South Asia, by Vali Nasr
3. Constitutional and Political Change in Pakistan: The Military-Governance Paradigm, by Charles H. Kennedy
4. The Practice of Islam in Pakistan and the Influence of Islam on Pakistani Politics, by C. Christine Fair and Karthik Vaidyanathan
5. Pakistan's Relations with Azad Kashmir and the Impact on Indo-Pakistani Relations, by Rifaat Hussain
INDIA: POLITICS AND KASHMIR
6.Who Speaks for India? The Role of Civil Society in Defining Indian Nationalism, by Ainslie T. Embree
7. Hindu Nationalism and the BJP: Transforming Religion and Politics in India, by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr.
8. Hindu Ethnonationalism, Muslim Jihad, and Secularism: Muslims in the Political Life of the Republic of India, by Barbara D. Metcalf
9. Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian Union: The Politics of Autonomy, by Chandrashekhar Dasgupta
INDIA AND PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR DOCTRINES AND U.S. CONCERNS
10. The Stability-Instability Paradox, Misperception, and Escalation-Control in South Asia, by Michael Krepon
11. Pakistan's Nuclear Doctrine, by Peter R. Lavoy
12. Coercive Diplomacy in a Nuclear Environment: The December 13 Crisis, by Rajesh M. Basrur
13. U.S. Interests in South Asia, by Howard B. Schaffer
Notes
About the Contributors
Index
Can religion be compatible with liberal democracy? World Religions and Democracy brings together insights from renowned scholars and world leaders in a provocative and timely discussion of religions' role in the success or failure of democracy. An essay by Alfred Stepan outlines the concept of "twin tolerations" and differentiation, and creates a template that can be applied to all of the religion-democracy relationships observed and analyzed throughout the volume. "Twin tolerations" means that there is a clear distinction and a mutual respect between political authorities and religious leaders and bodies. When true differentiation is accomplished, the religious sector enjoys freedom of activity and the ability to peacefully influence its members but does not wield direct political power. A country's ability to implement the principle of differentiation directly affects the successful development of democracy.
Part two focuses on eastern religions -- Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism -- and includes contributions from Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The third part addresses democracy in relationship to Judaism and the three branches of Christianity -- Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Sociologist Peter Berger offers a global perspective of Christianity and democracy.
The volume's final section discusses what is perhaps the most challenging example of the struggling relationship between religion and democracy today: Islam and the governments of the Muslim nations. Abdou Filali-Ansary, Bernard Lewis, and others present a comprehensive exploration of Muslim thought and faith in an increasingly secular, modern world. It is in this volatile political and religious climate that solutions are most urgently needed but also most elusive. Johns Hopkins University Press
Human cooperation remains a puzzle because it persists even in contexts where traditional theories predict it should not do so (i.e. among unrelated strangers, who never meet again and where reputation effects are absent). The leading explanation argues that cooperation occurs only if non-cooperators are punished. However, punishment is costly, so "second-order" non-cooperators may arise who defect from contributing to punishment, thus unravelling this solution. We propose an alternative: during our history, the fear of supernatural punishment (whether real or not) deterred defectors and may therefore represent an adaptive trait favoured by natural selection. Supernatural beliefs are universal among human societies, commonly connected to taboos for public goods, so it seems plausible that they serve an important function in fostering cooperation. This hypothesis offers an explanation for (a) geographic variation in religious practices as solutions to local cooperation problems; and (b) the power of political appeals to religion to elicit cooperation.
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Hisham Zerriffi is an Assistant Professor and the Ivan Head South/North Research Chair in the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. Prior to joining the UBC Faculty, Dr. Zerriffi was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development. At PESD, he led a new project on the role of institutions in the deployment and diffusion of small-scale energy technologies. The centerpiece of this on-going study is a comparative analysis of different organizational and business models used to provide rural electricity on a local level.
Dr. Zerriffi received his Ph.D. from the Engineering and Public Policy Department at Carnegie Mellon University. His dissertation, "Electric Power Systems Under Stress: An Evaluation of Centralized Versus Distributed System Architectures" examined the reliability and economic implications of implementing large-scale distributed energy systems as a way to mitigate the effects of persistent stress on electric power systems. He has a B.A. in Physics (with minors in Political Science and Religion) from Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH and a Masters of Applied Science in Chemistry from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Before joining CMU he was a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.
Covering the intricate facets of America's most important democratic tradition, this book serves as an important resource to understand how citizens' views are translated into governmental action.
George Washington toured the countryside on horseback asking citizens their thoughts on his new government. Abraham Lincoln held weekly meetings with citizens to better understand their views. Today, public opinion is power, and no nation can afford to ignore it. Determining what the public is thinking is not always easy. Polls are powerful weapons, but they can be misused.
Public Opinion and Polling around the World presents a thorough review of public opinion from its roots in colonial America to its role in today's emerging democracies. More than 100 entries prepared by top scholars examine the 200-year history of public opinion, measurement methodologies with an emphasis on telephone interviews and Internet polls, and key figures like George Gallup and Elmo Roper, who created their own polling systems.
An analysis of theories compares schools of thought from the fields of psychology, sociology, and economics and explores how people form opinions. A fascinating snapshot of the public's current views on economic issues, foreign policy, gender, gay rights, and other hot-button topics observes patterns across genders, race, ethnic origins, class, and religion in regions all over the world. Students, academicians, and political observers will discover answers to such questions as, "does public opinion shape the behavior of government?"