Ideas of Social Order in the Ancient World

Subjects:

• Political Science » Political Philosophy
• Religious Studies » History of Religion
• History » World History (General)

Reviews:

• Upper-division students in peace studies, religious studies, political science, and philosophy should find a wonderfully stimulating cross-cultural discussion of some of the most lasting questions of all civilzations. Highly reommended.
  —Choice
• Vilho Harle, is a professor of International Relations, a discipline that I have usually treated with suspicion....I apologize to Professor Harle, whose work has made me view International Relations with new eyes....[H]is conclusions will warm the heart of social historians and humanists everywhere....[A] valuable analytical tool and a useful point of reference, being comprehensive, clear, thought-provoking and well-written.
  —Scandinavian Economic History Review, #1, 1999

• Endorsement From Stephen Chan
  Dean of Humanities
  The Nottingham Trent University: A book of this sort has been long overdue. Professor Harle's work provides the most erudite foundation for a revision of Euro-centric and mono-cultural notions of international order that I have yet read.
• Endorsement From Shiraz Dossa
  Professor of Political Science
  St. Francis Xavier University
  Nova Scotia, Canada: Vilho Harle possesses the kind of moral sensibility and intellectual ability that is all too rare in academia, especially in his field of international studies. In this book, Dr. Harle displays a deep, comparative command of the principal ideas and values across a number of civilizations and the capacity to discover humanity's 'common cultural heritage' in which lies the possibility for global peace and inter-civilization decency.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword by John Galtung
• Preface
• Introduction
• Research Design
• International Theory and Social Order in Civilizational Thought
• Comparison of Civilizational Thought: The Cases and the Method
• Principle-Oriented Patterns of Social Order
• Moral Principles as the Basis of Social Order
• Dharma and Caste as the Basis of Social Order
• Asha and Contract as the Basis of Social Order
• Torah and National Identity as the Basis of Social Order
• Power-Oriented Patterns of Social Order
• The Ideal Community as the Basis of Social Order
• The Wise King as the Basis of Social Order
• Education as the Basis of Social Order
• Heroism as the Basis of Social Order
• Coercive Power as the Basis of Social Order
• Peaceful External Relations as the Basis of Social Order
• The Politics of Exclusion as the Basis of Social Order
• Power Politics as the Basis of Social Order
• Conclusions: Comparison of the Ideas of Social Order
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index