Suchergebnisse

The Vatican is the head of the largest & most centralized religious organization in the world. It is also a sovereign state with diplomatic representatives across the globe. The Vatican, as a religious authority, often challenges secular authorities in areas of international economics, human rights, & security. Consistent with neosecularization theory, the Vatican has greater influence when its efforts resonate with secular justifications for particular policies. The Vatican's efforts in international debt relief, international religious freedom, & against the recent wars in Iraq demonstrate this finding. This has important implications in that we can expect religion to continue to play a significant role in international issues. The Vatican, in particular, provides an intellectually interesting & practically important interlocutor with global Islam. Adapted from the source document.

Throughout this century, the Marxist Left in Europe has emphasized an economic interpretation of history, with state ownership of the means of production as the key element in their prescription for society. Political polarization is depicted as a direct reflection of social class conflict, with the working class the natural base of support for the Left. This diagnosis has become increasingly out of touch with reality in recent years, which have seen the decline of orthodox Marxist parties in Western Europe and the diminishing credibility of the ideology on which they are based. For as advanced industrial society emerges, economic determinism provides a progressively less adequate analysis of society, and class-based parties and the policies they advocate become less central to politics. Economic development reduces the impact of economic determinism. Though economic factors tend to play a dominant role in the early stages of industrial society, in advanced industrial society their relative importance diminishes; and self-expression, 'belonging' and the quality of the physical and social environment become increasingly important.

This publication is based on papers presented at an academic conference that followed the British Museum's exhibition Hadrian: Empire and Conflict. It offers new research by sixteen international experts on one of the most important Roman emperors. Their essays cover a wide range of aspects of Hadrian's reign, which continues to attract considerable academic interest and vivid debate. Drawing from the fields of architecture, ancient history, art history, archaeology and science, the authors present critical new insights, both on familiar monuments and new discoveries, spanning the breadth of the Roman Empire and regions far beyond, from the Caucasus to the Indian Ocean.