Tzvetan Todorov

Today we are witnessing the emergence of new forms of tension and conflict that are quite different from the old oppositions that characterized the world of the late twentieth century. These new forms of tension are rooted as much in cultures and traditions, and in attitudes like fear, resentment and contempt, as they are in the hard facts of geopolitics or military power. But their mixture is explosive, and the number of conflicts is on the rise. In this new book Tzvetan Todorov offers a highly original analysis of this new landscape of violence and fear that characterizes our world today. Drawing on Montesquieu&s notion of the human passions, Todorov distinguishes four passions that are particularly important for understanding the modern world Ð those of appetite, resentment, fear and indecision. The developed countries of the West are today distinguished by the place that the feeling of fear occupies within them. They fear both the ‘countries of appetite& (those countries, like China and India, whose inhabitants want to enjoy their fair share of the benefits of industrialization) and the ‘countries of resentment& (those countries, including many in the Muslim world, whose inhabitants feel anger or resentment towards the most wealthy and powerful nations). But fear is a dangerous motive. It can easily drag us into actions that demean others and ourselves, and risks producing an evil that is worse than the evil we initially feared. The fear of the barbarians can turn us into barbarians. Timely, brilliant and provocative, The Fear of the Barbarians is an indispensable guide to the new tensions and conflicts of our age.

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