(Japanese Version)
(Arabic Version)
Chapter
5: Two calendars (Gregorian & Hijri)
5-7(43) Two books: “The End of History and the Last Man” & ”The Clash
of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order”
In the 1990s, the last decade of the 20th century,
two books were published by a political scientist in the United States, and had
the great reputation. One was "The End of History and the Last Man" by
Francis Fukuyama in 1992 and the other one was "The Clash of Civilization
and the Remaking of World Order" by Samuel Huntington in 1996. When one
century was coming to the end, it was apt to be published abnormal literatures which
predicts the end of the world like "Harmagedon" or "The
predictions of Nostradamus". But two books refereed above were the papers
on civilization by renowned scholars. The assertion of two papers were quite
different.
The Middle East has been at the mercy of history as a
crossover point of East and West civilizations. In that sense, both books
suggested important points for the history of the Middle East.
Professor
Fukuyama predicted that in 21st century the world would
turn into one global society with democracy and market economy. He also claimed
the era of "the end of history" where there were no major conflicts of
ideology. On the other hand, Huntington said that the world of the 21st century
would not be global integration, but rather would be divided into units of many
civilizations, and the conflicts between each civilization would form the new
world order.
Professor Huntington listed the seven civilizations as
the main ones of modern age. They were Western Europe civilization, Islamic
civilization, Confucian civilization, Hindu civilization, Orthodox Church
civilization, Latin American civilization and Japanese civilization
respectively. It was interesting that Huntington thought that Japanese
civilization was an independent one. In sense of folklore or geopolitical
studies, it is natural that Japanese civilization might be integral part of Far
East Asian civilization.
Among these seven civilizations, the Western European
civilization is the latest one originating from the industrial revolution in
the 18th century. The Western European civilization focused on the ideology
such as liberalism and capitalism. In
contrast, the Islamic civilization is a religious one by Prophet Muhammad in
the 14th century. The Orthodox Church civilization is a civilization rooted in
the religion of Christianity.
Once there had been four ancient civilizations. Two
of them were in Egypt and Mesopotamia in the Middle East. The other two
civilization were along the banks of Yellow River in China and Indus River in
India. Yellow River civilization in China was the mother of Confucian
civilization. And Indus civilization in India was the mother of Hindu
civilization. But Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization had no successors.
They only remained their names as an archaeological civilization. Latin
American civilization and Japanese civilization were related to ethnicity.
Prof. Fukushima's "The End of History and the
Last Man" was written being affected by the falling down of Berlin Wall in
1987 and the dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991. The United States became the super
power of the world in 1990s. Socialism and communism were driven out and liberalism
and capitalism became the de facto standard. His book symbolized such age. Meanwhile,
it was sure that Huntington wrote "The clash of Civilization and the
Remaking of World Order" under strong influence by the drastically
changing history of the Middle East. They were the Iranian Revolution in 1979,
the invasion and withdrawal of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan from 1980 to 1989,
and the Gulf War in 1991.
These two philosophical books were published in the
paradigm shift of dramatically changing history. Just at the same time, neoconservatism
was emerged in the United States. The roots of neoconservatism dated back to the
1930's. And it grew up as a theoretical pillar of the political party which
opposed to the Detent (Release from tension) with the Soviet Union during the
Cold War. The Jewish lobby in the United States supported the neoconservatism.
Senator Barry Goldwater who was the Republican
presidential candidate in 1964 made the speech which was enthusiastically
supported by conservatives. Senator Goldwater told that; "The radicalism
for defending freedom was not a vice in any way. But the moderatism in search of
justice was not a virtue in any way". The conservatism became the
mainstream of the Republican Party.
During the Republican governments from President Ronald
Reagan in 1981 to President George H. W. Bush in 1993, people believed that
United States was undoubtedly correct. They also convinced that God chose them
and gave the mission for world peace. The United States made the Soviet Union to
withdraw from Afghanistan and promoted reunification of the East and West
Germany. The United States supported Saddam Hussein of Iraq of the secular
regime in the Iran-Iraq war. In the field of economy, they forced other
countries the globalization through free trade. The United States became the
most powerful country in the world.
"The End of History and the Last Man" by
Prof. Fukuyama traced the real history. But Prof. Fukuyama never said that
history would end. He said that the world after the Cold War was the beginning
of the final chapter of history where democracy and market economy might be
unified to the one ideology. He claimed eschatology at the end of the 20th
century. This made his book the best-seller.
The United States overthrew the Hussein dictatorship
in Iraq in the Gulf War by force. Rulers of the Arab and Muslim countries
trembled. The United States intended to materialize Prof. Fukuyama's idea in the
Middle East in 21st century. However, Prof. Huntington challenged the
philosophy of Prof. Fukuyama through "The Clash of Civilization and the
Remaking of World Order". Unfortunately, 9/11 terrorism at the beginning
of the 21st century proved the prediction of Prof. Huntington.
(To be continued
----)
By Areha Kazuya
E-mail: areha_kazuya@jcom.home.ne.jp
Home Page:
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