By Nayef Al-Rodhan (2009)
(LIT books, Switzerland)
WHERE will the next great age of civilisation come from? That huge unknown is what Oxford senior scholar Nayef Al-Rodhan tries to predict in his recent work "Sustainable History And The Dignity Of Man". He moves through a set of well-constructed background chapters on the big why-who-what questions relating to the meaning of life. Nobody could say the author is not ambitious. This is a real life, the universe and everything effort.
Broadly speaking, Al-Rodhan outlines a humanist agenda. Essentially, an approach that says that while we are all on this planet and sharing its natural resources, why shouldn’t we make the effort to try and get along? If we’re put here on Earth for a reason, it’s to do things – use our skills to make the world a better place.
He points out that good governance of people is the number one aim of politicians, and may not necessarily need to be based purely on a Western Liberal Democracy system to work efficiently. It’s an attention-grabbing thought, almost defying standard university-class logic. Could Communism, socialism or even a totalitarian dictatorship really provide its citizens with the lifestyle it most desires in order for it to prosper? That’s where the theory of everyone sharing everything is brilliant, but human greed wrecks the practical reality.
At one point early in the book, Al-Rodhan suggests that humanity may even need to colonise another planet in order to start life again with a clean slate. If humanity is only sustained by reason and not emotion-based decisions, that could end up as a dangerous proposition.
If we were all as emotionless as the next person, we might simply find ourselves transformed into a version of Doctor Who’s Cybermen. “A civilisation that succeeded in populating a galaxy could be almost immortal, since no known natural catastrophe could destroy it,” writes Al-Rodhan. That definitely sounds like the Cybermen, or their Star Trek equivalent, the Borg.
Perhaps this book is somewhat less successful overall than "Neo-Statecraft And Meta-Geopolitics" – not in terms of conceptual scope, but probably ease of application. There is a lot to digest here, and Al-Rodhan has painted the political side of the argument in finer strokes than the biological and scientific ones. It’s almost too much to try and synthesise in one volume, an immense if arguably at times flawed work. However, the author at least deserves a bravery award for putting the ideas forward.
As was the case previously, there’s no denying that the author raises some intriguing questions for the reader to ponder – and parry against. It is all informative rather than instructive, but never less than interesting.
Some would dispute his point that humans are “an insignificant part” of existence in the universe. The same would go for the statement that all knowledge has a physical basis – try telling that to religious scholars who leave room for the miraculous. During his dissection of “what is knowledge”, the reader is almost put to sleep, but he does note that what we know is often subject to error. True – how often do we misinterpret others’ motives, leading to simple mistakes – and how worse does it get when magnified onto a global political scale?
The theory of “core states” that may provide examples of governing with dignity is one worth pursuing, though. Students would have a field day debating which is the core of the European Union, Pacific rim and so on. The middle section, using ancient Islamic culture as an example of good government is also timely and eye-opening, reminding the reader of the key Arab world developments in history.
Once again, too, it is the selection of humanist principles in relation to politics that come off best – reminders that over half of Earth’s population still lack clean water or electricity, that the United Nations security council remains skewed towards the winners of World War II, that nations must share the responsible use of common environmental resources and so on.
Jon Anderson, singer in British rock group YES, aired a view about history a decade ago that rings true in relation to this book: “our home is our world, our life”.
At present, it appears to be all we have, but what if humanity does indeed go on and on, rising above petty fears to survive conflict? It’s worth hoping for – a history of the future that’s surely within our grasp, if not always under our total control.
“There’s no reason to believe that these developments are implausible,” says Al-Rodhan. He’s probably right, although three volumes instead of one might have explained it all better.
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