John L Esposito
John L. Esposito is a Professor of religion and international affairs and director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, and Professor of history and international affairs at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He has served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, president of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, and as a consultant to the US Department of State. His books include the forthcoming Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World (Oxford), The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality, and Islam and Politics
In recent years, there are those who speak of a clash of civilizations, a clash between Islam and modern secular (or Judeo-Christian), democratic values and culture or between Islamic civilization and the West. Religious and cultural differences are emphasized over similarities; political, economic, and cultural differences are necessarily equated with confrontation. Areas of cooperation and the fact that most countries are primarily, though not solely, driven by national and regional interests are overlooked or de-emphasised.
The challenge in an increasingly global, interdependent world is to recognize both competing and common interests. Cooperation can result from common religious and ethnic backgrounds. However, more often than not it comes from the recognition of common national and strategic interests. While a clash of civilizations can become the clarion call that justifies aggression and warfare, future global threats and wars will be due less to a clash of "civilizations" than a clash of interests, economic and otherwise.
The challenge in the new millennium is one of pluralism and tolerance. In a globally interdependent world, models of convivencia, based upon mutual respect and understanding, which enable us to live together rather than of confrontation are necessary. Across the Muslim world, from North Africa to Southeast Asia, Muslims are generating fresh interpretations and models of pluralism and tolerance based on a recognition of human equality and of shared beliefs and values as well as the acceptance (though not necessarily agreement) of religious and cultural differences are essential.