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Introduction: The Twenty-first Century: Prospects for a Global Community
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19783 |
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MODERN THOUGHT
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3 / 1991 |
851 Words |
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In January 1990, The World & I looked at the prospects for the last decade of the twentieth century. In this issue we extend our gaze to the twenty-first century. It is not too soon to consider the changes that will accompany the onset of the new millennium, as those changes have already begun and their consequences will be far-reaching.
The demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989 symbolized the failure of communism and, with it, the end of the bipolar system that dominated geopolitics since World War II. Its demise marks a historic watershed. For more than 40 years, international events had to be viewed from the perspective of the two super power blocs. Those blocs represented more than opposing military and political systems. They embodied two ideologies with radically opposed views of value.
Communism was the culmination of a materialist tradition that came to see man as the mere product of environment and evolution. The free world, by contrast, was indebted to a more spiritual view of man: The rights enshrined in democratic polities stem from the concept that man is endowed with value by his creator.
The events of the late twentieth century have brought the development of these two traditions to a historic crossroads. What road should we take now? What will be the guiding spirit of the twenty-first century?
The collapse of communism has created the opportunity to establish peace on a truly global level. It was for this that the United Nations and the League of Nations before it were created, but both organizations foundered on national and ideological divisions. Today, the time is ripe for a new vision of a just and peaceful global order and for establishing institutions that can guarantee it.
An enormous number of problems exist that require global cooperation. The gap between North and South must be closed; the former communist bloc must be integrated into the family of nations. The benefits of science and technology must be made available to all people while the planet's natural resources need to be managed equitably and with foresight.
The racial and religious conflicts that have burst forth the shadows of the bipolar world must be solved before they shatter any hope of creating a global community. They are driven by passionate commitment but the commitment is to values that are
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