Civilisation

“Bir kişinin çalışmadan yiyebilmesi için çok sayıda insanın yemeden çalışması gerekir.”
Zaven Biberyan

İlerlemeci bilim uzun yıllar insanın tarihsel yolculuğunun karnını doyurmakta güçlük çeken, akılsız hayvandan modern, akıllı, tok bir varlığa doğru olduğu öyküsünü anlattı. Avcı-toplayıcı ataları tüm gün karınlarını doyurma peşindeki yarı-aç ilkeller olarak betimleyen bu bilimsel söylem, elde edilen arkeolojik veriler ışığında nihayet terk edilmeye başlandı. Yiyecek bulmak için özel bir zamana dahi gereksinim duymayan, günlük hareketliliği içerisinde karşısına çıkan yiyeceklerle karnını doyuran avcı-toplayıcı insana kıyasla modern insanın yaşamı, yemek üzerine kuruludur. Bu “yemek” uygarlaşma süreci boyunca öylesine bir dönüşüm geçirir ki insanı doğadan ve birlikte evrimleştiği diğer tüm canlılardan ayırır. Evcilleşip kentcilleşmiş insanın midesi bedeninden taşar. Yemek artık sınıfsal bir ayraçtır ve bu yolda iştah da uygarlaşmıştır.

Atalarımız ne yiyordu? Besinlerini ilk kez ne zaman pişirdiler? Et yemek ile ataerkil şiddet arasında bir ilişki var mı? GDO tarımla birlikte mi başladı? İçinde bulunduğumuz uygarlık bir buğday ve ekmek uygarlığı mı? Yaşam ne zamandan bu yana ekmek kavgasına dönüştü? Antikçağın sofralarında neler vardı? Ne yiyorsan o musun yoksa neysen onu mu yiyorsun? Zenginin şöleninden, fakirin ekmeğine kadar sınıfsal sofra savaşları…

İsmail Gezgin’in milyonlarca yıllık insan-besin ilişkisi üzerine düşündüğü bu çalışmada, atalarımızın ne yediğinden başlayarak buğday uygarlığına, ilk ehli tohumlardan hayvan yemeye, antikçağın ataerkil şölenlerinden lezzet tüccarlarına, yemeğin iktidarla doğrudan bağına, farklı çağlardan geçerek ve türlü türlü sofralara konuk olarak tanıklık ediyoruz.

This paper looks at the conditions of the emergence of "race" as a new scientific category during the eighteenth century, arguing that two modes of discourse and visualization played a significant role: that on society, civility, and civilization -- as found principally in the travel literature -- and that on nature, as found in natural history writings, especially in botanical classifications. The European colonizing enterprise had resulted in an extensive flow of new objects at every level. Visual representations of these new objects circulated in the European cultural world and were transferred and transformed within travelogue and natural history writings. The nature, boundaries, and potentialities of humankind were discussed in this exchange within the conceptual grid of classifications and their visual representations. Over the course of the century the discourse on society, civility, and civilization collapsed into the discourse on nature. Humans became classified a...

La loi genevoise sur la laïcité, confirmée à 55% des votes le 10 février 2019 ouvre une nouvelle brèche entre la volonté populaire et le droit supérieur. Le recours désigne les dispositions litigieuses sur une analyse de la distorsion opposant le concept polysémique de la laïcité aux principes de démocratie.

В догосударственный период древние славяне (включая восточную их ветвь) успели проявить ряд своих базовых этнокультурных характеристик. Некоторые из них "хорошо узнаваемы" и стали частью "национальных характеров" национально-этнических общностей ("народов"), которые сформировались на общеславянской базе в дальнейшем.

В то же время различные группы восточных славян обладали различными культурными особенностями, вступали в культурный контакт с разными соседями (финно-уграми, балтами, тюрками) и завоевателями (готами, аварами, византийцами, хазарами, варягами и др.), - всё это вело к культурно-политической диверсификации восточного славянства.

Домонгольская Русь была плюралистичным образованием, в котором - на фоне церковного и династического единства - продолжали существовать различия в гражданско-политических культурах различных восточно-славянских земель.

Приход Орды, а затем экспансия Литвы и Польши - провели резкую цивилизационную черту между будущей Россией - и будущими Украиной и Белоруссией.

В России к XV веку оформилась политическая культура самодержавно-холопского типа, на базе которой получила развитие уникальная  "цивилизация ресентимента".

На территории, до XVII остававшейся в зоне польско-литовского политического влияния, оформилась политическая культура периферийно-европейского типа, включавшая элементы договорно-правовых отношений, как по горизонтали, так и по вертикали, а также самоуправления.

Российский тип политической культуры поспособствовал становлению крупнейшей евразийской империи. Периферийно-европейский тип политической культуры сделал народы "приграничья" на продолжительное время объектом имперской экспансии с Запада, Востока и Юга, однако, позволил сохранить некоторые цивилизационные черты, характерные для Европы, сформировавшиеся и закрепившиеся к XVII веку.

This book critically engages with NATO’s two main referent objects of security: civilisation and individuals. By rethinking the seemingly natural assumption of these two referent objects, it suggests the epistemological importance of an unconscious dimension to understand meaning formation and behaviour change in international security.
The book provides a historicised and genealogical approach of the idea of civilisation that is at the core of the Alliance, in which human needs, narratives, and security arrangements are interconnected. It suggests that there is a Civilised Subject of Security at the core of modern Western security that has constantly produced civilised and secure subjects around the world, which explains NATO’s emergence around a civilisational referent. The book then proceeds by considering the Individualisation of Security after the Cold War as another stage of the civilising process, based on NATO’s military operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
https://www.palgrave.com/cn/book/9783319744087#aboutBook

The articles presented here grew out of a year-long discussion of the spatial dimensions of historical and cultural change in various parts of Asia during the early modern and modern periods. Each essay engages the ways in which geographies—here defined as visual and verbal discourses about space—perform political and cultural work. That is, we examine how geographies in Asia were deployed strategically, whether to map, narrate, frame, relocate, or dislocate particular places, regions, “homelands,” or nation-spaces. In recent centuries, these Asian geographies have necessarily coexisted with Western (principally European) geographies, whether in the colonial or postcolonial context. As these essays show, such coexistence has taken many forms, from conflict to emulation to apparent disinterest.

A simplified go-to document that shall the give the reader an overview of the pillars of African Traditional Religion. It also promises to be a book that urges the reader to find out more about African Traditional Religion because it demystifies a religion shrouded in secrecy and persecution from the major religions of the world. The Axioms of Kemet are advices and instructions from Ancient Egypt.

Bu metinde daha önce başka bir makalemde işlenmiş olan, kurucu kavramların nitelikleri üzerinde farklı boyutları ile yeniden durulmuştur. Burada (daha önce imparatorluk kavramı seçilmişti) örnek olarak Kültür ve Medeniyet kavramları seçilmiştir. Bu kavramların etimolojileri ve tarihsel-sosyolojik temelleri üzerinde durularak göç etmiş oldukları farklı bağlam ve ortamlarda aslında nelere mal oldukları ve neye yol açtıkları irdelenmektedir.

Wilderness as a concept emerged as a way of thinking about nature with the beginnings of a pastoral way of living around twelve thousand years ago.  It was conceived as a region where one was likely to get into a confused, disordered, or “wild” condition, but it is now commonly defined as uncultivated and otherwise undeveloped land.  This essay investigates how wilderness is represented, and any associated limitations, in Jon Krakauer’s non-fictional account and Sean Penn’s film adaptation of Chris McCandless’s journey Into the Wild. Firstly, the Alaskan wilderness is treated as a sanctuary, separate from “civilisation”, a place where the “civilised” individual can retreat to escape from the perils of ordinary life. Secondly, Into the Wild continues the literary tradition of portraying wilderness as antagonist to man and his works, and a relentless environment that needs to be “tamed” and “conquered”.  Thirdly, wilderness is exclusive, following on from the American pioneering tradition, as a “frontier” reserved for the individual white American male. Lastly, it suggests the existence of a pure and pristine wilderness that is devoid of other human inhabitants and a history. All of these themes impose limitations on our understanding of “wilderness”.

Peut-être faut-il entre vrais frères et sœurs invoquer de faux amis linguistiques pour mieux comprendre la place de la femme dans la société maçonnique en rendant celle-ci definitly et actually effective selon l’acception des mots anglo-saxons associée à une signification apparentée dans notre langue, c’est-à-dire absolument, définitvement et immédiatement, réellement disponible.

Cancel culture and wokeism are dangerous trends that are increasing in their intensity and the self-destruction of Western civilization is a matter of time as the underlying historical myths and value/normative philosophies that led to its global hegemony is destroyed by a messianic ideology that is engineering an exclusive homogenous worldview in the name of pluralism and inclusivity. In this world of Orwellian doublespeak, the current struggle for ideological hegemony is taking place in the information space for hearts and minds in the cognitive realm. Social media is the very frontline in the future and even very existence of Western civilization, and it has chosen to support those waging the neo-liberal cancel culture in the name of justice, liberation and equality.

This thesis is about the possibility of regaining global leadership by America during Obama's administrations. The thesis is an example of policy-oriented research in the service of global change. Foreign policy scholars are divided as to the degree of influence to accord to human agency and the role of political leaders in shaping the international system. Can human agency shape history? This thesis argues that during both administrations America tried to retrieve international legitimacy, leadership and respect around the world by designing a coherent foreign policy strategy. The thesis examined to what extent President Obama's election marked an effective victory for modern diplomacy, renewal of Earth and advancement of history. Each time a presidential candidate is elected into office, he or she usually brings a measure of reassurance, hope and positive, promising energy. But very soon the weight and the sheer magnitude of the domestic and foreign problems that demand attention, immediate action and genial solution become evident. Generations of thinkers have grappled with threats to the prosperity and progress of civilisation which only testifies to the fact that novel, global challenges cannot be solved overnight. They require bold, creative and adaptive responses. While mankind continues to experiment with innovative solutions, this thesis stated that America's main tool for restoring global leadership will be realist diplomacy based on the principle of 'consensual leadership.' Such diplomacy required an individual to act as 'a transformational leader' offering decisive leadership in foreign affairs while promoting global consensus. The promise was that thanks to consensus higher order of magnitude of challenges such as climate change will be solved. President Obama's rhetoric suggested that he acquired strategic vision while activating the international community, global public opinion and world's leaders around the aim of advancement of civilisation by addressing the challenge of climate change through effective climate diplomacy. An examination of his diplomacy through analytic, theoretical lens revealed that there was no grand strategic breakthrough or a comprehensive success although there were many small, promising victories. This thesis agrees with Indyk (et al. 2012) that President Obama’s foreign policy "has repeatedly manifested a combination of the realist’s pragmatic approach to the world with the idealist’s progressive approach to a new world order that President sought to shape.” Could it be defined as "bending history"? It appears so, but there is no evidence for that so far. President Obama's diplomacy was uplifting and convincing, but the truth of the matter is that his promise has been better than performance. Any progress that was achieved in the Obama's years seemed to develop through the gradual, step-by-step evolution of policy while sometimes it appeared that a more concrete action was required. President Obama has proven to be progressive where possible but pragmatic when necessary.” As Indyk, Lieberthal, and O’Hanlon (2012) noted, by setting very ambitious goals for his administration and then following more cautious and incremental foreign policies, President Obama has laid himself open to criticism. This is because the nexus between climate, natural resources, prosperity, and stability alongside with unresolved migration crisis could lead to serious displacements of millions of people. Earth will not wait until humanity reaches a global consensus, it will try to restore the balance with or without us. Why is that? Because the essence of the emergent crisis of global warming is that as a global civilisation humans are importing enormous amounts of energy from the crust of the Earth and exporting entropy (that is, progressive disorder) into the previously stable, though dynamic, ecological systems upon which the continued flourishing of civilisation depends (Gore, 2013: xvii). These new flows of energy, originally imported to the Earth from the sun ages ago, have been stabilised underground for millions of years as inert deposits of carbon. (Ibid.) "By mobilising them, however, and injecting the waste products from their combustion into the atmosphere, we are breaking down the stable climate pattern that has persisted since not long after the end of the last Ice Age ten millennia ago." (Ibid.) What was in balance, was forced into imbalance, and it will eventually return to a natural balance. And this seems to be one weakness of President Obama's diplomacy which could have restored balance to the world but could not break or overthrow the existing system. This weakness would have been overcome if the intensity of rhetoric could be matched by the simultaneous strength of a long-lasting action. President Obama alone could not solve the climate crisis, he needed support from other world's leaders. Due to the crisis of global leadership, leaders cannot overcome the slow progress of diplomacy and enact prompt decisions. Bureaucracy delays policy implementation. Millions are suffering due to catastrophic consequences of climate change in various places around the world such as the Philippines, Italy or America, climate change is unresolved. Although the 2015 Paris Agreement was good and constructive, it is unlikely to be ambitious enough and effective enough to prevent dangerous climate change, unless there is, in addition, a widespread moral consent plus global consciousness that climate change is the defining global challenge that must be decisively and dynamically resolved by local communities in the current century. If the message sent by the scientific community is correct, namely that "an effective architecture of a governance system for planetary stewardship is likely to be polycentric and multi-level rather than centralized and hierarchical" as suggested by Steffen (et al., 2011: 757); then seekers, i.e. scientists seeking effective solutions to climate change need to focus on whether and how such novel governance can be integrated to reach convincing decisions and shape policies from local to global level. Whereas at the moment, it seems that global leaders meet and convene participating in protracted, high-table, great-power diplomacy, but they have not reached consensus on novel solutions to global challenges that would enable the bold 'jump' or a decisive 'push' so that our civilisation could move to the next level. There is pressure on world leaders, as "effective planetary stewardship must be achieved quickly since the momentum of the Anthropocene threatens to tip the complex Earth System out of the cyclic glacial-interglacial pattern during which Homo sapiens has evolved and developed", so the argument that climate change occurs only in cycles is not complete. "Without planetary stewardship, the Anthropocene threatens to become for humanity a one-way trip to an uncertain future in a new, but very different, state of the Earth System" when our civilisation could undergo a crisis (Ibid.). A crisis of climate leadership could turn into a planetary catastrophe. The hope that human imagination can solve important problems implies a belief that a bright idea will be found. The hope is that "every system of domination including our twenty-first-century globalization generates its own distinctive set of opportunities for a challenge, response and finally transformation." Given the diminishing time our civilisation has to avert the ecological crisis, "we must find a way of working more creatively with, around, above, and below this system rather than entertain the political fantasy that we can design and build new global governance institutions from scratch." (Christoff and Eckersly, 2013: 164). Given the stalemate in international climate change negotiations, we have to never give up. A carefully crafted, minilateral solution could inject political momentum into gridlocked international processes and move beyond the impasse. (Falkner, 2015: 21). It would provide new forms of collective leadership in a post-hegemonic world so ascribing high levels of international agreement for its implementation in key, world capitals would be essential. It would require reconciling existing multilateral regimes with shifts in the global power balance away from elitism. It involves: 1) Holding those in power to be responsible for climatic degradation 2) Harder global politics, 3) Smarter use of technology 4) Persuasive diplomacy and passionate campaigning. Moreover, it involves ameliorating arguments, abandoning bickering and disputes, rejecting selfish tribalism, so that deniers could not boast to deny the truth. Innovative approaches to global governance demand adoption of constructive ideas and action on all fronts. This is only one way in which "a magical elixir of renovation" for our civilisation​ could be found. The search continues while humanity strives for global change in 'a politically activated world'.

This paper presents a thermal model for the prehistoric origins and development of clothing. A distinction is drawn between simple and complex clothing, a distinction which has implications for palaeolithic technological transitions and the emergence of modern human behavior. Physiological principles and paleoenvironmental data are harnessed to identify conditions requiring simple, loosely–draped garments and the more challenging conditions that demanded additional protection in the form of complex garment assemblages. No actual clothing survives from the Pleistocene, yet the archaeological record yields evidence for technological and other correlates of clothing―more evidence than is generally supposed. Major innovations and trends in the distributions and relative frequencies of lithic and other tool forms may reflect the changing need for portable insulation in the context of fluctuating ice age climates. Moreover, the non–thermal repercussions of complex clothing can be connected with archaeological signatures of modern human behavior, notably adornment. Alternative models are less parsimonious in accounting for the geographical and temporal variability of prominent technological and other behavioral patterns that vary in association with environmental changes.

This paper argues that although classical sociology has largely overlooked the importance of social relations with the material world in shaping the form of society, Braudel's concept of ‘material civilization’ is a useful way to begin to understand the sociological significance of this relationship. The limitations of Braudel's historical and general concept can be partially overcome with Elias's analysis of the connection between ‘technization’ and ‘civilization’ that allows for both a civilizing and a de-civilizing impact of emergent forms of material relation that both lengthen and shorten the chains of interdependence between the members of a society. It is suggested that the concept of the ‘morality of things’ employed by a number of commentators is useful in summarizing the civilizing effects of material objects and addressing their sociological significance. From the sociology of consumption the idea of materiality as a sign of social relationships can be drawn, and from the sociology of technology the idea of socio-technical systems and actor-networks can contribute to the understanding of material civilization. It is argued that the concept of ‘material capital’ can usefully summarize the variable social value of objects but to understand the complexity of material civilization as it unfolds in everyday life, an analysis of ‘material interaction’ is needed. Finally the paper suggests some initial themes and issues apparent in contemporary society that the sociological study of material civilization might address; the increased volume, functional complexity and material specificity of objects and the increased social complexity, autonomy and substitutability that is entailed. A theory of ‘material civilization’ is the first step in establishing a sociology of objects.

Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan, is an occasion of joy, and festivity. Muslims visit friends and family, exchange gifts, consume good food and contribute financially to charitable causes on this event. The celebration of Eid emphasizes our values of spiritual upliftment and generosity towards those facing difficulty and hardship. During the glorious era of the Fatimi Imams (as), the Imam uz-Zaman (as) used to address believers on the day of Eid in a Khutbah (sermon). In an Eid address in the 10th century CE, Mawlana al-Qaim (as) told a gathered assembly of believers that this day of Eid is a festival that Allah honours and exalts. He counsels Muslims on this day to “be faithful in your intentions and submit your requests to Allah.” This article provides a glance on the Eid of the Fatimi era and briefly discussed its philosophy.

La notion d'une ligne reliant des sites archéologiques entre eux et créant un lien entre eux a été avancé par plusieurs acteurs de l'archéologie alternative.
Cet article tente de démontrer que ces liens sont totalement factices et ne reposent sur aucune donnée archéologiques ou culturelle.

Civilizational analysis of the kind propounded by Eisenstadt and globalization theory are apparently wholly incommensurate paradigms, with radically differing visions of the contemporary world order, the former championing the notion of ‘multiple modernities’ and the latter envisioning a world of trans-national processes and institutions. This articles challenges such a dichotomizing view, and seeks to illustrate how in various ways they overlap and can come to inform each other. Particular attention is given to how a focus on inter-civilizational interactions can lead to productive rapprochements between civilizational analysis and globalization theory, as it allows some of the themes of the latter to be analysed through civilization-analytic lenses. The pioneering work in this regard of Benjamin Nelson is shown to provide a basis for future civilizational analyses of globalization, especially in the pre-modern world.

Cet article confronte les pratiques et les représentations de femmes jouant de la guitare flamenca en Andalousie, en se centrant sur l’iconographie de 1850 à 1900. Il s’intéresse d’abord aux représentations de la pratique féminine sur des tableaux du genre costumbrista ou sur des photographies, en réfléchissant aux postures du corps féminin en fonction de la pratique instrumentale et de la mise en scène. Puis est détaillée l’activité guitaristique de ces femmes, le plus souvent limitée au cercle privé, où elles jouent un rôle dans la transmission du répertoire. L’enseignement prodigué par certaines d’entre elles vient compléter une autre activité artistique car, en public, la guitare demeure une activité secondaire pour les femmes. Cette étude montre enfin l’ambigüité des représentations mentales de l’opinion publique, qui déconsidère les femmes artistes, assimilées à des prostituées, mais les érige en sujet principal de l’iconographie publicitaire, comme le révèlent les photographies et les affiches qui annoncent les fêtes de printemps en Andalousie. Si en pratique le public masculin encourage et stimule le chant et surtout la danse féminine, ce qui conduit nombre de femmes à renoncer à une activité guitaristique professionnelle, sur les images fixes, en revanche, la figure féminine est associée à la guitare, pour des raisons esthétiques.

Our sources for the chronology of the Old Kingdom comprise a mere handful of contemporary written documents, supplemented by radiocarbon dates, some of which have recently been recalibrated by Oxford University. The bulk of historical evidence, deriving primarily from residential cemeteries of the ruling kings and the elite, as well as from provincial sites, shows that during large portions of the Old Kingdom Egypt represented a relatively centralized state with a well-structured administrative system. Until the end of the Fourth Dynasty Egypt’s royal family exercised a role of complete authority, exemplified in the monumental construction of pyramids, such as those on the Giza Plateau. Fourth-Dynasty king Djedefra broke with tradition, building his pyramid at Abu Rawash, nearer Heliopolis, a major cult center of the of the period and traditional seat of the sun god Ra, with whom he allied himself. Evident from the Fifth Dynasty onward is a steady decline in the royal family’s dominant role in the state administration, concomitant with the rising importance and authority of non-royal officials and provincial administrators. Tomb motifs accompanied by various proxy data, particularly from the reign of Niuserra, are suggestive of changing environmental conditions and climatic stress, supported today by scientific data. The so-called “status race” became yet more explicit in the Sixth Dynasty, which was marked by instability and court intrigue, the provincial nomarchs ultimately succeeding in combining powers of both the administration and priesthood. The Seventh Dynasty represents a fleeting period of political upheaval wherein, according to the historian Manetho, 70 kings reigned during a period of 70 days. By the Eighth Dynasty—the ultimate closing stage of the Old Kingdom—the powers of the formerly centralized government had become territorial and personal.

Responding to the proposition that learning to live in the Anthropocene involves learning how to die, this article problematises the modes of world-making upheld in some of the contemporary proposals for the global reorganisation of societies towards just, socio-ecological transitions beyond the techno-fixes of geoengineering, green growth, and their attendant ideals of progress. Specifically, it critically examines one such proposal that, inspired by process philosophy, has proven deeply influential in China's recent shift in ecological (geo)politics: the idea of an 'ecological civilisation' based on principles of ontological relationality, democratic responsibility, and a new alliance between the sciences and the humanities. The article argues that while such a project rejects the substantive values of modern progress, its regulative notion of civilisation retains the modern story of progress as a mode of valuation and therefore reinscribes imperial, colonial values at the heart of ecology. In response, the article suggests that learning to die in the wake of ecological devastation requires making life outside the modern coordinates of progress, which is to say living without the ideal of civilisation. Seeking to expand the political imagination at a time of socioecological transformations, it calls for 'ecological uncivilisation' as a permanent experimentation with improbable forms of world-making and methodologies of life that are envisaged thanks to ongoing histories of decolonisation and not in spite of them; that strive to live and die well but not always better.

This study examines the role and value of Hadith
and Sunnah in the formation of main characteristics of Islamic civilization: the concept of ontology,
epistemology and value. To do this, primarily the
notion of civilization and Islamic civilization dealt
with, then the relationship between sunnah and
Muslim’s imagination of Islamic civilization is focused. For this purpose, based on the main foundational paradigms of civilization, the constitutive
notions of Islamic civilization “iman”, “ilm” and
“amal-i salih” are discussed by considering the
related chapters of al-Bukhari’s al-Jamiu’s-Sahih.
As a result of this work we have reached that,
whenever the Muslim’s perception of hadith and
sunnah experiences crises also the Islamic civilisation experiences conjuncture and vise versa.
Therefore, it’s vital to attach importance to the
implementation of the value’s of hadith and sunnah during the daily life of Muslim’s, to revive the
Islamic civilisation.

"The Quaternary literature reveals a widespread but variable informal usage of a tripartite division of the Holocene (‘early’, ‘middle’ or ‘mid’, and ‘late’), and we argue that this de facto subdivision should now be formalized to ensure consistency in stratigraphic terminology. We propose an Early–Middle Holocene Boundary at 8200 a BP and a Middle–Late Holocene Boundary at 4200 a BP, each of which is linked to a Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP)."

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the various Late Quaternary records that are available from western Egypt and northern Sudan, which includes more than 500 published radiocarbon dates and various sedimentary archives from local landscape components, including palaeolakes, soils, drainages (wadis), and archaeological sites. This palaeoenvironmental compilation frames the spatial and temporal context of local cultural activities when the region was most hospitable B9000–6000 BP; at this time, monsoonal weather influenced the portion of the African continental interior, creating enough convective rainfall for occasional surface water storage. In this part of the modern Sahara, rapid hydroclimatic changes play a key role in geomorphic evolution and resource availability. As ‘watering holes’ formed and dried up in the Early to Middle Holocene, Neolithic people developed various subsistence strategies, including opportunistic hunting of small animals (e.g. gazelle and hare), and food-related (e.g. wild sorghum, millet, and legumes) activities: gathering, plant cultivation and livestock-rearing. During its wettest phases during the ‘monsoonal maximum,’ the area was drought-prone, sustaining a meager steppe– shrub desert flora. Further desertification and aeolian deflation during the Middle and Late Holocene fostered technological innovation,
migration and settlement, as well as the further development of agrarian communities and complex culture.

«The Elder Scroll’s» - популярная серия компьютерных игр, которая берёт своё начало с 1994-го года, и которая обрела с тех времён широкую аудиторию. Данная игра, как особый вид культурного текста, является хорошей иллюстрацией, которая демонстрирует оригинальную модель мира и отношений в данном мире, в основе которых лежит религиозно-интерпретационный конфликт. Однако о том, что данное видение причин конфликтов не является чисто «фентезийным», свидетельствуют работы таких исследователей как Сэмюэль Хантингтон и Александр Дугин. Последний интересен тем, что он демонстрирует как раз имманентную для гностического мировоззрения (следы которого встречаются внутри метафизических концептов, предлагаемых игрой) дуалистично-конфликтную модель истории. Поэтому цель данной статьи состоит в том, чтобы продемонстрировать данную конфликтную модель с стороны вышеперечисленных авторов.

America currently faces serious dilemmas in its global policy and more specifically in the formulation of its foreign affairs strategy. These difficulties can be attributed primarily to the loss of international legitimacy. Consequently, America must retrieve international legitimacy, leadership and respect around the world by designing a coherent foreign policy strategy. Numerous scholars, engaged in a debate over the future of American foreign policy have advanced many suggestions of how to recover international legitimacy. However, there is no clear choice between them as many are incompatible and contradict one another. Therefore, none of the suggested theories is sufficiently persuasive. This thesis aims to scrutinise current American foreign policies and place them in a broader context of academic knowledge. The idea is to generate policy-oriented research, analysis and innovative problem solving that offers suggested ways in which America may restore international legitimacy. Using the method of analytical eclecticism this thesis is going to use three International Relations theories to ascertain whether President Obama has achieved foreign policy aims. Analytic eclecticism can help bridge the gulf between academic scholarship and the world of policy. Large events such as presidential elections in America require careful, rational choice analysis. The administration has promised radical changes in many areas of American foreign policy, but the implementation phase of policy making involved a loss of momentum, thus the promised change occurred through evolution. Three case studies demonstrate how insights from three International Relations theories can be brought together. The results of this thesis suggest that America’s main tool for restoring legitimacy was realist diplomacy based on the principle of consensual leadership. Such diplomacy required an individual to act as ‘a transformational leader’ offering decisive, principled direction in foreign affairs. President Obama’s rhetoric suggested that he acquired a strategic vision to activate the world’s leaders with the aim of an upgrade of civilization. An examination of diplomatic actions reveals that success was minimal at grand strategy levels since nobody has figured out yet creative responses to global challenges. Yet, it is a moral imperative that America should continue to be the preeminent world leader in solving international challenges such as climate change, nuclear nonproliferation and environmental degradation. Equally, one of the main findings of this thesis is based on a combination of both Realist and Constructivist insights. Constructivism has offered a challenge to Realism with its focus on security and balancing military power. If the nature of international political reality is socially constructed, human beings have in their power to construct a better world thanks to ideas, norms and discourse. If true, then Great Powers can avoid costly spirals of mistrust and rivalry when their leaders engage in honest, high-level diplomatic dialogue focused on effective renewal of the Earth. The ultimate survival of civilisation will depend on effective consensus-building measures among America, Russia and China as three Great Powers forming a trilateral and inclusive system of global power management. America's historical, global role as the champion of democracy and the ultimate objective of American foreign policy should be benign and visionary: "to shape a truly cooperative global community, in keeping with long-range trends and with the fundamental interests and needs of humankind." (Brzezinski, 1997: xiv). This thesis argues that American predominance so characteristic of the postwar order must give way to a more flexible, truly multilateral order which is more reflective of the reality of present times. Such an order could take seriously the sometimes differing perspectives of other major powers without succumbing to their revisionist desires. A more multilateral and shared order would simply be one in which decisionmaking in leading institutions is more evenly shared, new institutions reflecting the voice of rising powers could join established institutions to shape and together build the order. (Mazarr, 2018: 3) "Urgent challenges could be handled through multilateral processes where many states have a voice, and use of force to advance liberal values could be predicated on truly international endorsement.'' (Ibid.: 3). Given the fact that the present moment of relative global peace and stability may be short-lived, America has "an urgent need for engagement in the world that is deliberately focused on the enhancement of international geopolitical stability and that is simultaneously capable of reviving in the West a sense of historical optimism and in the East the sense of seeking compromise and capacity for dialogue. When the West and the East unite then there is a real chance for a real capacity to deal with internal and external geopolitical challenges. Only a united planet, multicultural one and moving beyond national or civilisational divisions can effectively solve these novel, global challenges effectively. As one professor noticed, "meeting these challenges is America's burden as well as its unique responsibility. Given the reality of American democracy, an effective response will require generating a public understanding of the continuing importance of American power in shaping a widening framework of stable geopolitical cooperation. (Brzezinski, 1997: 214). Cooperation which ultimate aim should be to avert and move beyond the global anarchy and also successfully defer the emergence of a power rival. (Ibid.: 214). These two goals "are inseparable from the longer-range definition of the purpose of America's global engagement, namely that of forging  an enduring framework of global geopolitical cooperation." (Ibid.). For that reason and given the above global goals, efforts of the President Obama's administration, who was positively inclined towards diplomacy, multilateral operations, and cooperation with allies and partners, especially regional powers in solving global challenges constitute actions oriented in the positive direction. President Obama's efforts in diplomacy were conducive to building and investing in a more flexible and geopolitically stable international order. Diplomacy has been traditionally preoccupied with advising, shaping and implementing foreign policy. But today, it is a far more complex, diverse and challenging process, which is subject to constant change. Ineffective methods of diplomacy are not enough in the present, interdependent world. Modern diplomatic practices, such as: negotiation, persuasion, agenda setting and coordination must be understood properly and applied adequately to achieve the best means for reaching goals. Modern, innovative diplomacy informed by science and exercised with prudence should be evolving into and ensuring the geopolitical core of shared responsibility for peaceful global management. (Brzezinski, 1997: 215). This thesis concludes that forward deployed, climate diplomacy could perform its classical function of contributing to global dialogue, peace and stability on Earth finally solving the problem of environmental change. Such diplomacy must rest on the will of the people, protect the most vulnerable, aim to work with allies and strengthen multilateral cooperation to preserve global public goods. The purpose of cooperation that diplomacy may enhance, principally, is to solve problems that require innovative, collective governance solutions. What is required is more imagination and quantum shift in thinking about global governance which could be defined as collective efforts to identify, understand and address global problems such as climate change that go beyond the capacities of individual states to solve. Intelligent, inclusive and tightened global governance will be based not just on institutional thickening of the current international order, but also on the quest for international legitimacy, fostering international resilience in the form of renovation of current institutions and adaptation to change so that to prevent costly crises whether financial or climatic from loosening the bond existing among members of the international community. What may emerge is an informal global community that is inherently congenial to more institutionalized and inclusive global cooperation. In the course of the next several decades, a functioning expression of such a structure of global cooperation, based on geopolitical dialogue, compromise and realities, could thus emerge and gradually assume the mantle of the world's current regent, which has in the meantime assumed the burden of responsibility for world stability and peace." (Brzezinski, 1997: 215). Principled diplomacy is a step in the direction of geostrategic success and may serve as a sine qua non condition for successful foreign policy.

"The archaeological and paleoclimatic data suggest, however, the unrepresentative and essentially ahistorical quality of the epigraphic record, particularly for early historic Mesopotamia. Here the cuneiform record misses the early historic climate change, the structure and goals of Akkadian imperialism, the native historical screen enveloping adaptive responses, and the spatio-temporal dynamics of nomadism."