Big Democracies at the Crossroads

• In a balloting year filled with surprises from India and Venezuela, and with Americans battered by the Bush-Kerry race, what do Russia and Indonesia tell us about the future character of democracy as a globally expanding project?

Too Much Global?

• By pairing the global and the local with the national and the personal, we introduce a more perfect union of inquiry into a world caught in the throes of globalization and confronting a loss of communal meaning and values

The global war second only to the War on Terror is a world war of religion among Christians, Muslims and Jews. Or so the black ink of the daily headlines, the bloodied hands of extremists, and the inkwells of ivory-tower notables may easily lead us to believe. In the two-plus years since September 11th, however, more moderated voices have begun a serious self-examination within their home countries, leading us toward a keener understanding of cross-societal discord and cultural and religious tensions within the global village

Speech Confucious avoids the clash; so how angry are Muslims? The Rt. Hon Chris Patten, EU Commissioner for External Relations, delivered a speech at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on May 24th, 2004. Articles Saudi jihadists target infidels, Muslims alike Raid Qusti comments from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Philippines an unwitting stage for ‘good versus evil’ Eric F. Mallonga comments from Manila, The Philippines Muslim fighting Muslim? Pakistan en route to the Dark Ages Humayun Gauhar comments from Karachi, Pakistan

In Boston, Confucius sits peacefully beneath US flags during a 2001 ceremony in Chinatown. Under the banner of cultural diagnosis, has the divide between the Arab world and the West been unnecessarily exacerbated? Top photo: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

Special Feature: Won for the Gipper? Reagan ends the Cold War. So did he or didn’t he? ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER BING His eyes on the Kremlin, President pushed USSR downfall • Harvey Sicherman comments from Philadelphia, US Soviet collapse is in the eye of the beholder • Alexei Pankin comments from Moscow, Russia Nicaragua's American butcher • An excerpt from a recent interview by Democracy Now, the US-based radio program, in Nicaragua with Fr. Miguel D'Escoto