ABSTRACT
With this chapter1 the reader arrives at the core of the current inquiry and is then exposed to the major idea and the assumption of this study, namely, that cultural tensions lead to conflict. In the course of outlining the subject matter at issue in the Introduction, a line was drawn between Islam’s predicament with modernity – as analyzed in Chapters 1 to 4 – and the place of Islam in the postbipolar world politics of conflict, which will be addressed here. Reference to this line is essential to determining both the substance of this chapter and the new discipline of Islamology pursued in this book. It is presented in this book as a study of post-bipolar international conflict, with a social-scientific focus on religion and culture. The kind of study pursued in this chapter and throughout the book can only
be accomplished in an interdisciplinary manner, even though it is heavily embedded in international relations. Despite the focus on culture, the reader can rest assured that under no circumstances do I overlook the political and economic constraints generated by globalization. However, I will maintain the focus on my subject matter. I am well aware of the reference to structural underpinning. The Islamological approach seeks – without any reductionist or culturalist bias – to illuminate the new place of religion and of culture in post-bipolar international conflict. In this context, Islam’s predicament with modernity, as the core issue analyzed in Chapter 1, has been demonstrated in Chapters 2 to 4 in relation to three basic issue areas. Here, I go a step further and relate this predicament to the new pattern of conflict that has emerged and prevails in post-bipolar politics.
