Benjamin Barber

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

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

Benjamin R. Barber (born August 2, 1939) is an American political theorist and author perhaps best known for his 1995 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[2]–2012, he was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos.

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., Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Italy on civic education and participatory institutions.

Barber has met with and worked alongside civil society and government leaders in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Moammar Gadhafi's Libya.[3][4][5]

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).

Barber's father, Philip W. Barber, directed the New York City unit of the Federal Theatre Project, which produced plays including Macbeth and the Living Newspaper. His mother, Doris Frankel, was a playwright and wrote for television.[6] Barber himself 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.

Sonderkommando Controversy

In November 2016, Barber was highlighted in a Project Veritas undercover video taken earlier in the year comparing Black Republican Supporters to "Sonderkommandos" or Jewish Persons who Aided Nazis in Extermination Camps.[7] Immediate outcry was evident on Social Media, with Barber issuing a statement that he regretted that he had been recorded while making the comment (but did not retract the sentiment or position).[8] Calls for academic and professional disavowal or boycott of Barber have continued.

Bibliography

References

Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Benjamin Barber
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.