Issue No. 591
Opinion
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20 - 26 June 2002 Issue No. 591 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
A second age of reason
An explosive mix of discontent and fundamentalism is brewing within the context of a new world order. Rushdi Said* ponders the consequences
A new world order is emerging in which the United States wields disproportionate power. Never before has a single state or empire gained dominance over virtually every corner of the earth. With a combination of military power, technological prowess and political influence, the United States has so far managed to eclipse other powers on the international scene like Russia, China and the EU, intimidate smaller nations and manipulate an impressive array of international organisations, namely, the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The world has known dominant empires before, but their geographical reach was never so complete and they were eventually challenged by lesser powers lurking about their edges. In this respect the cases of Rome and the Germanic tribes, the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs, and the Baghdad caliphate and the Moguls are instructive. The technological gap between the ancient empires and their neighbours was never all that great, which worked in favour of emerging powers. Now, the scene is more complicated. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has dominated the international scene with its extensive media reach, banking and investment prowess, military edge and political clout. In every continent, the United States has local allies who are capable of and willing to further its aims. In most countries there are businessmen, decision-makers and academics who have links with transnational businesses and who are willing to defend, or acquiesce to, US political and economic choices.
But there are chinks in the armour. The new world order may have an extensive reach and powerful agents, but it also has its challengers and internal contradictions. Even in the United States, the rise of the religious right is a potential hazard to political stability, for it opposes the two fundamental tenets of Western civilisation: reason and moral responsibility. The encroachment of the church, represented by the religious right, in state affairs introduces an element of irrationality in government decisions. Individuals and states are classified as good and evil depending on whether they are with us or against us. Values become a matter of ritual rather than responsible moral behaviour. Business corruption, like the Enron scandal, is becoming more frequent. Concern about the less fortunate is no longer a public priority. The rise of religious fundamentalism in the United States explains, at least partly, the US Congress's increasing bias towards Israel. The terrible events of 11 September have complicated the situation. The urge to protect the United States against further terrorist attacks has given rise to a series of laws and regulations restricting individual freedoms, which had previously been a strong point of the American system. These developments make the current situation a far cry from that in the aftermath of World War II when the United States assumed moral leadership in the formation of the United Nations and the drafting of the international declaration on human rights. A moral reversal has taken place over the past few decades, and not only in the United States. Countries that had abolished the death penalty are reinstating it. Young men and women whose parents shunned intelligence services in the 1960s and 1970s are now eagerly seeking careers with the CIA and the FBI.
A further challenge to the new world order is the increasingly marginal role played by human beings in the process of production due to technological advances. Less people are needed to run farms and factories and even to fight wars. As a result, many people are marginalised despite the exponential growth of the service sector. Illegal activities such as arms smuggling and drug dealing have witnessed considerable growth. The magnitude of illegal trade is difficult to gauge, but it is estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
The globalisation of investment has failed to bring about a globalisation of prosperity. Countries such as Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia and Rwanda have fallen by the technological wayside. The pace and direction of the development of the global economy have made many people in the industrially advanced world disgruntled. A sizeable number of those have taken their discontent to the streets of Seattle, Genoa, New York and Washington. The ideological vacuum created by capitalism led to the rise of fundamentalism worldwide. From Israel to the Gulf states, from Pakistan to India and even in the United States, religious fundamentalists are reshaping the structure of vital sections of the state like the judiciary and key services like social security, health care and education.
The only hope for reforming the new world order is through a return to the age of reason, to the separation of church and state and to affirmative action on behalf of the less powerful sections of the international community.
* The writer is a Washington-based political analyst and former head of the Egyptian Geological Survey Authority.
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