Civilization in Crisis: Human Prospects in a Changing World

Joseph A. Camilleri, Civilization in Crisis:  Human Prospects in a Changing World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976 [Reprinted 1978, Re-issued 2010],viii + 303 pp. 

Translated into Arabic: Joseph A. Camilleri, Civilization in Crisis: Human Prospects in a Changing World [Azamat al-adārah: āfāq insānīyah fī ālam mutaghayyir] translated by Fayal al-Sāmir, Baghdad: Wizārat al-Thaqāfah wa-al-Ilām, 1984.

First published in 1976, this book presupposes a future in which man will be increasingly confronted by a series of global disorders. By focusing attention on these, this book attempts to identify those forces which threaten not only the quality of life but the very survival of the human species. Dr Camilleri brings a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the cultural and institutional imbalances which underlie the organization of national and international society. He examines the economic philosophy of the advanced industrial countries and the fierce rivalries to which it has given rise within the western world as well as the inequality it has encouraged and perpetuated between overdeveloped and underdeveloped societies, and the consequences of this for the world's energy economy and ecological system. The author then advances some normative concepts and ethical options as sign posts towards an alternative future society.

Preface          i

The world crisis: an overview            12

Underlying causes of disorder       30

The decadence of industrial culture         47

World economy in disarray          66

Underdevelopment and structural dependence         92

Economic transnationalism: the new imperialism        113

The energy crisis        138

The security crisis         177

The claims of morality and utopia         197

The politics of disorder       219

The politics of survival       242

Transitional strategies and cultural change       262

Notes       295

Index