The Third wave in globalization theory

This essay examines a proposition made in the literature that there are three waves in globalization theory—the globalist, skeptical, and postskeptical or transformational waves—and argues that this division requires a new look. The essay is a critique of the third of these waves and its relationship with the second wave. Contributors to the third wave not only defend the idea of globalization from criticism by the skeptics but also try to construct a more complex and qualified theory of globalization than provided by first-wave accounts. The argument made here is that third-wave authors come to conclusions that try to defend globalization yet include qualifications that in practice reaffirm skeptical claims. This feature of the literature has been overlooked in debates and the aim of this essay is to revisit the literature and identify as well as discuss this problem. Such a presentation has political implications. Third wavers propose globalist cosmopolitan democracy when the substance of their arguments does more in practice to bolster the skeptical view of politics based on inequality and conflict, nation-states and regional blocs, and alliances of common interest or ideology rather than cosmopolitan global structures

The Islamic City—Historic Myth, Islamic Essence, and Contemporary Relevance

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. In some ways, historiography takes the same form as the traditions of the Prophet. The authenticity of any proposition is judged by the isnad or "chain" by which it descended from the past. Certain chains are deemed more trustworthy than others. One makes reference to an earlier authority in order to substantiate a statement's authenticity or truth. The truth, therefore, is only as good as the isnad (chain) of its "construction." Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The first part of this essay is concerned with the criteria of authority, chains of authenticity, and the construction of reality in Orientalist scholarship. Its thesis is that the idea of the Islamic city was constructed by a series of Western authorities who drew upon a small and eccentric sample of pre-modern Arab cities on the eve of Westernization (domination), but more than that, drew upon one another in an isnad of authority we intend to trace here. One It is Georges Mar:ais, however, who gives a morphology to the Islamic city. He notes the differentiation between nonresidential and residential quarters and the fact that residential quarters are often specialized by ethnicity. Finally, he describes the physical organization of the city markets which he suggests are ordered in a certain hierarchy which is not completely accidental. I quote at length from this section because it is to appear again and again in subsequent works, either in quotation marks or paraphrased. I have said that the center was occupied by the Great Mosque, the old political center, the religious and intellectual center of the city, where the courses were given to students from The Islamic City 157 the various schools. Near the mosque, the religious center, we find the furnishers of sacred items, the suq of the candlesellers, the merchants of incense and other perfumes. Near the mosque, the intellectual center, we find also the bookstores, the bookbinders and, near the latter, the suq of the merchants of leather and the slipper [babouche]-makers which also use leather. This introduces us to the clothing industries and the commerce in cloth, which occupy so large a place in the life of Islamic cities. The essential organ is a great market, a group of markets that carry the mysterious name, Qaiqariya. The Qaiqariya ... [is] a secure place encircled by walls where foreign merchants, above all Christians, come to display their cloth materials brought from all European countries. The QaiCariya, placed not far from the Great Mosque, as in Fez or Marrakesh, for example, is a vital center of economic activity in the city. Beyond the commerce of textiles, of the jewellers, the makers of hats [chechias], we find the makers of furniture and of kitchen utensils.... Farther out are the blacksmiths. Approaching the gates one finds places for caravans ... then the sellers of provisions brought in from the countryside.... In the quarters of the periphery were the dyers, the tanners, and, almost outside the city, the potters.