Cultural Forces in World Politics - Ali A. Mazrui

There is nobody who delights more in the power of culture than Professor Mazrui. The words of these essays move people to argument and agreement, to fury and delight. they beg attention.

Professor Mazrui, Reith Lecturer and presenter of BBC1's 'The Africans', makes us reconsider the realities of power in world politics. He argues that the emphasis continues to be on the arms, on resources and on strategic calculations and that the importance of culture has been grossly underestimated.

Professor Mazrui's own mind is a cultural cross-roads; he can give Islamic insights to the Western audiences about The Satanic Verses; he relates the Beijing Spring to the Palestinian Intififadah; he compares the effects of Zionism and Apartheid; he puts together Muhammad, Marx and market forces; he tells the Americans that their attitude to the Third World is a 'dialogue of the deaf',\; he makes a post-colonial equation of gender and power.