Benjamin Barber

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This article is about the American political theorist. For the Australian actor, see Ben Barber.
Benjamin R. Barber

Benjamin R. Barber in 2010
Born (1939-08-02) August 2, 1939
New York City
Occupation Academic
Nationality American
Genres Political theory
www.benjaminrbarber.com

Benjamin R. Barber (born August 2, 1939) is an American political theorist and author perhaps best known for his 1996 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld and 2013's If Mayors Ruled the World.

Career

Benjamin R. Barber is a Senior Research Scholar at The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society of The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, the President and Founder of the Interdependence Movement, and Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Rutgers University.[1] From 2007 - 2012, he was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos.[2]

As a political theorist, Barber argues for a renewed focus on civil society and engaged citizenship as tools for building effective democracy, particularly in the post-Cold War world. His current work examines the failure of nation-states to address global problems, and argues that cities and intercity associations are more effectively addressing shared concerns. Benjamin Barber has been a Senior Fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy since 2005.

Barber was an outside adviser to President Bill Clinton and a foreign policy adviser to Howard Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign. He has advised political parties and political leaders in the U.K., German, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Italy on civic education and participatory institutions, and has done the same, more controversially,[3][4][5] with civil society and government leaders in Turkey, the Emirates, Libya and China.

Barber was educated at Grinnell College (B.A., 1960) and Harvard University (M.A., 1963; Ph.D., 1966), after earning certificates at Albert Schweitzer College (1959) and the London School of Economics (1957).

The son of theater people, he has also been active as a playwright, lyricist (libretto for George Quincy's opera Home and the River) and film-maker (The Struggle for Democracy, with Patrick Watson; Music Inn, with Ben Barenholtz).

Honors

Barber's honors include a knighthood from the French Government (Palmes Academiques/Chevalier) (2001), the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin (2001) and the John Dewey Award (2003). He has also been awarded Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Social Science Research Fellowships, honorary doctorates from Grinnell College, Monmouth University and Connecticut College, and has held the chair of American Civilization at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.

Bibliography

  • Superman and Common Men: Freedom, Anarchy and the Revolution (1971)
  • The Death of Communal Liberty: A History of Freedom in a Swiss Mountain Canton (1974)
  • Liberating Feminism (1976)
  • Marriage Voices (1981 novel)
  • Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age (1984)
  • The Conquest of Politics: Liberal Philosophy in Democratic Times (1988)
  • An Aristocracy of Everyone: The Politics Of Education and the Future of America (1992)
  • America Skips School (1993) appeared in Harper's Magazine
  • Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World (1996)
  • A Place for Us: How to Make Society Civil and Democracy Strong (1998)
  • A Passion for Democracy: American Essays (2000)
  • The Truth of Power: Intellectual Affairs in the Clinton White House (2001)
  • Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy in an Age of Interdependence (2003)
  • Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age (Twentieth Anniversary Revision 2004)
  • Schwächt oder stärkt E-Technologie die Demokratie?, in: Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y. (ed.): Kultur und Gerechtigkeit (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisziplinär/Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 2), Baden-Baden (2007)
  • Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole (2007)
  • If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (October 2013)[6]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Professors Paid by Qaddafi: Providing 'Positive Public Relations'"
  4. ↑ Dugald McConnell and Brian Todd, "Gadhafi paid millions to U.S. firms to polish his global image", CNN, April 6, 2011 http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/06/libya.gadhafi.image/index.html?hpt=T2
  5. ↑ "Benjamin Barber Responds"
  6. ↑

Further reading

  • Saward, Michael (2012), "A conversation with Benjamin Barber.", in Browning, Gary; Dimova-Cookson, Maria; Prokhovnik, Raia, Dialogues with contemporary political theorists, Houndsmill, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 24–41, ISBN 9780230303058 

External links

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