World Civilization - Essay Example

?World Civilization World Civilization Civilization is defined as a global or universal phenomenon of political, economic, cultural,and technological exchanges that come up because of contemporary communication, legal infrastructure, and political willingness to open links across borders to enable international finance and trade. In general terms, it is a term that stands for the close ties between people and states of the world culturally, economically and politically (Ostrom, n.d). Proponents perceive that, civilization has played a key role especially in political sphere an argument which has received major backing from civilization nationalists. For example, they have a uniting factor in the view that International institutions such as World Trade Organization have positively influenced political ties among member states. Dividing the two sides in the middle is the issue and the role of technology in globalization (Mancur, 1965). Proponents have identified with the remarkable positive contributions predisposed by technology such as faster access to information and more jobs created such us the online jobs. On the flip side, critics have expressed deep reservations on the security lapses that technology has exposed most countries to as a result of technology. They have also expressed concerns on global moral decadence that has been wide spread as a result of civilization through technology (Clough, 1990). Civilization has destabilized the stand of poorer states and uncovered people to dangerous and harmful competition. Their concern is rational and understandable especially since the gap between the poor and the rich has become more prevalent in recent ages. Poverty can be deliberated in various ways, for instance, relative to a nation’s individual average consumption level or in terms of well being of citizens. By common agreement, civilization has increased rapidly since early nineteen eighties. If civilization leads to poverty, then Nations that have been economically incorporated through trade and investment should be worse. But, some nations in the world have become more integrated into global economy have made tremendous progress while others like Sub-Saharan Africa that have remained in isolation and have experienced a sharp decline (Clough, 1990). The fissure or gap between the poor and the rich groups of people in the world has increased. Inequality would rise with this tremendous increase in poverty. One of the common feature discussions connecting poverty and civilization is the general conception from the stance of impoverishment to lead to world developments. When governments accumulate debts in private markets engaging a decline in world demand for their products, prices of common goods would undergo depreciation leading to recession. Underdeveloped countries and small business owners are at distant from adjusting their technology as often as their developed, larger, wealthier counterparts. Due to inability to merge with wealthy and multinational firms, small firms and underdeveloped countries are pushed to carry on their businesses locally thus never expanding and reaching their full capacity. Technological advances are being made each day all over the world but the bad news is that they are proving to be unaffordable. This high cost of production leads to fixed consumer prices, which are high. Civilization has become a weapon in the politics of oppositional activities, rallying on the idea that of diverse global ills. Civilization is viewed as a symbol of civilization threat. The main argument behind it is that it tends to refer the United States and other developed countries as hegemonic powers that promote civilization for their own benefits. In turn, they harm the cultural, environmental, and economic interests of other countries of the world. Instead of establishing a universal human progress, it has made the gap between the poor and the rich to widen. About beliefs, the Constantine worshiped Christianity because he grew up in a background that believed in Christianity. His hometown was established with a firm Christian foundation and that is why he was chosen as an empire to lead his people. However, he also worshiped the sun, which was one of the varied guises of monotheism; a concept where the world was fully ripped from. He is syncretistic in that he had the ability to gather few of his warriors and influence them to march with confidence towards their enemies without hesitation. He rightfully claimed the title of Christianity in many areas that he conquered and its foundation was made strong by his success. Emperor considers himself as faithful and held in measures to the adoration of the sun uniting all of their subjects in worshiping of one sun god who associate in him as father-god of the Christians; thus the empire is considered to be anew unity of religion. Constantine respected and adorned Christian churches gloriously giving it maximum power because he believed in God. His conquest was under the mercies of God and he used to consult the church councils like priest, bishops, and prophets to interpret the complex situation. Constantine was generous to every person because it was his vision to fight for his people and free them from the yoke of absolutism and restore them the splendor and glory, he also loved children where he prohibited the abduction of girls and acknowledged the right of parents to trade their children in slavery. However, Constantine was seized with an ailment and died in May, 337, as a strong Christian respecting and supporting the roles of the church; he longed to lead a pagan life and supported his children as Christians. In Asia, the Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty portrays a landmark official visit to china by an ambassador from Arabia in seventh century. Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, a companion of Prophet Muhammad, led the representative which brought Islam’s belief system to china. Muslims therefore nourished China’s economy by establishing import and export business during Sung Dynasty. The Muslim businessmen, traders and tourists facilitated these trade activities and led to establishment of offices of Director General of Shipping operated by Muslims. As years went by, Muslims became fully incorporated into Han society especially through marriage. Names changed among Chinese Muslim people where if a Muslim married Han women, their children obtained the name of the mother while others took the Chinese surnames. However, Muslim was capable of maintaining a separate, unfamiliar status, which contained its own custom, traditions, and languages and was never fully incorporated into the Han society. Their mode of dressing and dietary were constantly maintained. Kublai Khan’s brother, the emperor Mongke worked with Genghis’ third son, Ogodei to conquer Sung China with Kublai given the responsibility of full civil and military issues. This incited him in developing a government in China with the help of trustworthy Confucian advisers. Eventually he conquered China and turned into a first emperor of Mongol, which enabled him to rule the whole China. Kublai Khan imposed a nationalities policy, which divided China’s population into four categories. The first category was made up of Mongols that formed the military bastion and was in charge of taxation. The second was formed by foreign auxiliaries of Mongols, built-in for general Central Asia to furnish the higher officialdom together with its members. The fourth and the third classes were made of the large population from Han-jen the northern Chinese and Man-tzu the southern barbarians; this helped in determining state expenses. He undertook a political theory called dual principle which represented the parity of power and the self-worth of church and state in government affairs. His parvenu nomadic power called Mongols, viewed China’s government as having a political incompetence that led to much of it rapid collapse. Mongols even came to power in china, due to their powerful force of arms and they were able to build foundations for brilliant civilization established by Sung Dynasty. In the Middle East, Abbasids had the ability to characterize themselves from the Umayyad by striking their secularism, moral personality and their administration as a whole. They also requested support from non-Arab Muslim called Malawi who remained separated from Arab’s kinship-based society and were the best second-class citizen inside Umayyad Empire. When Umayyads were conquered, Abu al-Abbas’ successor called Mansur moved their finances from Damascus to the city of Baghdad welcoming non- Arab Muslims to their supreme court. Once in power, Abbasids accepted Sunni Islam and disclaimed the knowledge of supporting Shi’s beliefs, which led to frequent conflicts. This followed a widespread of bloodshed and escape of many shi’a to Maghreb. However, Mamluks were Turkish slaves used together with Slavs and Berbers to form an army loyal only to Addasids’ caliphate. This army was used by Al-Ma’mun and his successor brother, Al- Mu’tasim, to prevent further breakdown of the empire. It also created a border between the Caliphate and the people they declared to rule. The discussion recorded in the palace reviews the problems that resulted from Chamberlain’s misinterpretation of the agreement made between Abu Taghlib’s territory and al-Bakilani that al-bakilani had agreed to assent the terms of restoring the stronghold taken from him. This led to failure of producing the agreement in triplicate where the first copy was to remain with the Byzantine and was to be a ruling one, the second copy one to be in Aleppo referring to giving up the strongholds and the third granted in the capital (Barber, 2010). The Arab envoy considers Byzantine position ridiculous because he was able to procure the authorities consent to assured terms, which involved restoring fortresses derived from the revolt. However, Byzantines could rather use his skills for controversy and making up fine stories other than tolerate fair settlement of issues. The three regions; Europe, Asia and the Middle East are centers of civilization that have succeeded to advance ever since their conquest. Their success have been influenced by the factor that they employed a number of factor such as feudalism, the Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty and unique seizure respectively. A number of strategies are also used currently and they include military, religion, and politics respectively. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Europe suffered an economic crisis and political instability due to ineffective central government. However, European leaders adopted feudalism to reorganize the ineffective Roman institutions and shift their power to new institutions, improve the economy, advance transportation and communication facilities. Feudalism also incited many European people to gather a number of armed and fighting men capable of becoming powerful enough to take over their decaying Empire in charge of the government. These groups formed feudal leaders that took over the responsibilities of economic security of their boundaries and directed on how resources were to be used. Asia benefited from The Ancient Record of the Tang Dynasty, which made it possible for Arab people to visit China. Their adventure led to introduction of various activities of economic benefits. Many of the Muslim visitors were businesspersons who encouraged trade activities that became of great economic impact. They also influence religious activities by introducing their religion to China, which was highly respected for being fair, law-abiding and having a personal-discipline. However, the Middle East’s empire called Abbasid had the ability to conquer the Umayyad caliphs by use of his seized power where he assaulted their secularism, moral character and their government at large, he also continued to claim the power of authority using his Islamic religion. Civilization has undermined and demeaned cultural diversity of different countries of the world. Many international corporations promote consumerist culture in society whereby standard goods promoted by world marketing campaigns establishes same lifestyles. Endorsed by power of some countries, developed countries try to establish their ideas in order to override local traditions. These developed countries try much harder to promote their habits and values through media and popular culture. Contrary to that, it fosters cultural diversity through interaction across border that leads to mixing of different cultures of the world. The moral and ethical issues with people caused the bad picture of civilization. Civilization in its origin is not a real danger for any culture, but it is a one type of culture exchange between countries all over the world. For example, in U.S. people will not know about other culture, unless they make any trade deal and consume the product that manufactured by those countries, too. Civilization is important between countries. It is completely wrong that each country keep its culture away from others to know about it. Global cultures throughout history have undergone developments and changes for many reasons. Therefore, we can say the civilization is not a new phenomenon for the world or bad danger for cultures, but it makes for more rapid changes than what were previously found in history, especially with regard to the global economy, culinary culture, and social values and traditions (Barber, 2010). In conclusion, the result of civilization is manifested from tough competition among trades, workers, foreign investments, and direct involvement of governments. The adoption of western culture and corporate capitalism is killing families and community social management as seen through violence and family disruptions (Barber, 2010). Civilization consists of commercialized relations globally, which has created unequal society. Civilization has on the other hand helped people across the world to interact easily because of the technology it comes with such as satellite technology and improvement in transport sector. Civilization has had severe effects on women but its forces have opened opportunities for women to re-organize themselves and look for new ways to deal with their tribulations created by these forces. Civilization has come with new and fresh ideas but has also brought western democratic politics. Culturally, it has influenced immigration, theories, thought process, and idealism of human being. Its impact information and communication has had best result for humanity, which successfully turned the world into small place. For civilization to continue not in terms of the rich but people from all groups, countries, and religions of the world must have in creation of future world. Civilization has established opportunities for every human being to link with and learn from one another all over the world, to gather, trusting that a good world, a world that is fair to everybody. References Clough, S. (1990). The Rise and fall of Civilization. New York, NY: Kindle Books. Barber, B. (2010). McWorld vs. Jihad. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Mancur, O. (1965). Collective action. New York, NY: Kindle Books. Ostrom, V. (n.d). Theory without practice is fantasy, but practice without theory is blind. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Read More