Assessment of the Clash of Civilizations Debate
Abstract
Throughout history, man has attempted to understand world events and the relationships between countries in order to craft foreign policy as well as predict future interactions. The end of the Cold War was no different. As the Berlin Wall fell and the USSRs communist ideology dissolved, the United States no longer viewed the Russians as its enemy. Capitalism and liberal democracy had triumphed over communism. US foreign policy makers and academia grappled with what the new world political stage would look like. Who was the USs new enemy and how would the world respond to this new unipolar world? Many researchers developed theories to answer that very question. Three notable theories included Francis Fukuyamas 'end of history, the 'Democratic Peace theory, and the 'Commercial Peace theory. The 'end of history theory did not, as it sounds, believe that the end of the Cold War signaled Armageddon, but that the defeat of communism was "the end point of mankinds ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy would be the final form of human government." Democracy had triumphed over Communism and would now be the only form of government found throughout the world. The 'democratic peace theorys fundamental belief was that "democracies nevergo to war with one another." Thus, democratic countries should democratize the world. Every state that is converted to a democratic form of government would increase the security of the world. Basically, "to enlarge the number of democracies is to enlarge the zone of peace." Instead of democracy, the 'Commercial Peace theory recognized a "relationship between economic independence and the spread of peace."
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 19, 2010
- Accession Number
- AD1018446
Entities
People
- Amy Rammel
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College