Fraternity as an Overlooked Element in Global Politics

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-96620-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales)

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 576 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

This collection of chapters explores the often-overlooked concept of fraternity, positioning it alongside freedom and equality as a vital pillar of political discourse from its ancient origins to contemporary practice.

In a comprehensive framework, the book delves into fraternity's evolving meanings, contexts and functions across Western and non-Western settings. It highlights fraternity's relational dimension, examining it as a term that overlaps with solidarity, community and civic friendship. The contributors investigate fraternity from three key perspectives: its ambivalence and complexity rooted in the tension between inward and outward orientations, and its dual presence in secular and religious discourse. By uncovering these layers, the chapters reveal how fraternity continues to shape and redefine our social and political landscapes.

Targeted towards students, academics and general readers, this thought-provoking anthology invites readers to reconsider the importance of fraternity in modern society and its potential to foster connections in an increasingly fragmented world.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kulska, Joanna

Solarz, Anna M

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword. Introduction: fraternity as an overlooked element in global politics. Section 1: Defining the term and the contexts. Chapter 1. Between community and conflict: an attempt to reconstruct the theoretical discourse on fraternity. Chapter 2. Solidarity, fraternity, sorority: reflections from the individualist-collectivist intercultural continuum. Chapter 3. What we owe each other: fraternity, solidarity or mutual respect? A liberal perspective. Chapter 4. Religious reasons and democratic deliberation: a critique of exclusivist approaches in political theory. Chapter 5. "Friendship" as a political concept in Thomas Aquinas: an alternative to "fraternity"? Chapter 6. "Universal brotherhood": a religious or secular concept? On the idea of human fraternity in Fratelli tutti and monotheistic religious traditions. Section 2: From theory to practice. Chapter 7. Between rights and duties: fraternity as a post-secular concept. Chapter 8. "Spirit of Assisi", Fratelli tutti, human fraternity: the prayer meetings for peace of the Community of Sant’Egidio in a historical perspective. Chapter 9. The "Solidarity" movement: a Polish-style brotherhood – an attempt to explain the phenomenon through the prism of its religious component. Section 3: Between idea and reality. Chapter 10. Brotherhood without brothers. Chapter 11. The notion of "brotherly people" in the service of Russian neo-imperialism: the image of Ukraine and Ukrainians in Russian strategic documents and security debate after 2014. Chapter 12. Brotherhood and solidarity in Latvia: the context of history, war and migration. Section 4: Non-Western alternatives (?) Chapter 13. Branding human brotherhood in Saudi Arabia: limits and resources for global politics. Chapter 14. Tablighi Jamaat in Iran: borderless fraternity with global ambitions. Chapter 15. Ubuntu: African personhood and the reconstitution of global community. Afterword: fraternity can change the world. for the better?

Über Autor(innen)

Joanna Kulska is an associate professor at the Institute of Political Science and Administration of University of Opole and the director of the trinational Polish-German-French Europa Master Program. She was a fellow of the John Paul II Foundation in Rome and the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York, conducting research at the University of Chicago, and a guest professor at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Mainz. She is interested in international cultural relations, the changing role of religious factor in international relations and IR, church-state relations in Europe, civil society, peace and conflict issues, and evolution of contemporary diplomacy.

Anna M. Solarz is a lecturer in the Department of Regional and Global Studies at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw. She conducted her research, among others, at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University, USA. Her field of interest is the intersection of religion, culture and politics in international relations, with a focus on theoretical aspects of research on religion in IR, regional studies, the Middle East and Israel's foreign policy, as well as the Holy See as an international actor.