Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The paper is a critical examination of the Egyptologist Jan Assmann's thesis regardingwhat he calls "secondary" or "counter-religion" and its inherent intolerance against what it declares to be false gods or idols. Assmann's two books "Moses The Egyptian" and "Die mosaische Unterscheidung. Der Preis des Monotheismus" posit an idea of monotheism that begins with the Egyptian Pharao Akhenaten and ends with Freud's story of the "man Moses."
I am using Eric Voegelin's analysis of the genesis of the problem in Egypt and Israel to challenge some of Assmann's ideas.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper will begin by tracing elements of Central European philosophy which have shaped recent work in critical IR theory. In particular, the paper will explore the work of Jan Patocka as a way into a set of debates concerned dialogism in IR theory. Even though Patocka has recently been recognised as a significant contributor to the mid 20th Century European phenomenological philosophical movement, his work on ontology and history, along with the Czech political experience of the early 20th Century has, to date, been neglected in IR. With this in mind, it is necessary to map the original contributions of Patocka onto the study of global politics, so as to offer a series of points of departure for further theoretical dialogue in global politics.