End Of History or is it a New Beginning ?

Francis Fukuyama in his article ‘the end of history’ contends that, History, with its capital letter, is over!  Why?

Because, he argues, the winner is clear. After the end of cold war and the break up of Soviet Union, US emerged as the only super power. This was the end of the bipolar world. Moreover Liberalism and Markets gained supreme importance with the apparent failure of communism. Also he argues that ‘the liberal democracy may constitute the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the final form of human government’. Therefore these events constituted the ‘end of history’.

      Fukuyama’s understanding of History was most closely associated with Hegel and Karl Marx. For both these thinkers, there was a coherent development of human societies from simple tribal ones which were based on slavery and subsistence agriculture. Both Hegel and Marx believed that the evolution of human societies was not open-ended, but would end when mankind had achieved a form of society that satisfied its deepest and most fundamental longings. For Hegel this was the liberal state while for Marx it was a communist society, thus posited an ‘End of History’. Marx believed that ‘religion’ was the origin of any extremist philosophy. He said that ‘religion is the opium of the people’. It is only religion which is the highest level of motivator for a human being because the religion that one belongs to makes his identity. And therefore we don’t need a right of freedom to religion but rather we need Freedom from religion!

         The Israel-Palestine conflict which is bleeding the whole world today is greatest example of identity crisis. The origin of 3 religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam has made Jerusalem the most contested place on Earth. More over the unconditional support of the Americans to the Jews and the Arab countries supporting the Palestine only makes things worse. Most of these Arab countries are underdeveloped and have to depend on other nations for their economic development. Hence it is impossible for them to directly wage a war against an enemy nation or any other power due to lack of resources. Therefore, religious fanatics are using terrorism as a political tool, hey are generating tensions and using low-intensity conflicts to carry out their hidden agendas. It is this conflict that has resulted into 9/11 and many other terrorist attacks. The attack on the World Trade Centre has been the worst terrorist attack till date.

       As stated by the editor of India Today (couple of years back)–“India has lived with the specter of terrorism for close to two decades: the rest of the world is just discovering it!” In the past few years, after 9/11, there have been at least 10 terrorist attacks in our country –not counting the incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. The most recent of these was in Mumbai that killed 200 people and injured close to 600. He says- “this has been the sixth bombing in last eight years and the most severe since the 1993 serial blasts.  Mumbai has now become a soft target. It is the most attacked city in the world today. Everything that defines India’s commercial capital –its population density, its public transport system – somehow makes it vulnerable to repeated attacks.  In the city of almost 29,000 people to a sq km, with its highest population density found on its commuter trains, into the smallest attack gets modified into maximum impact.”

        Thus, ‘Terrorism’ and ‘Threat’ have become synonymous over the last few years. Terrorism is seen as ‘low intensity conflict’ where the main aim is to erode and exhaust the enemy. Terrorists attack soft targets and non-combating enemy. The basic aim of terrorism is to develop threat and insecurity. Terrorism can take any form but basically it aims to create socio-economic unrest and ethno-religious divides with a view to dismantling the existing political order.

And therefore, in spite of the victory of Liberalism, Markets and the changing ideologies the developing countries, today, are facing an immense threat from the underdeveloped economies of the very same world. Hence terrorism over a period of time has become an ideology in itself,

And it is being used as an instrument of foreign policy by the weaker states. The main aim of these terrorist attacks is destabilizing the developed economies. These two converse ideologies of liberalism and terrorism where one aims at economic development, and global peace through global prosperity, While the other at destructing the peace and stability of the developing economies, will keep bringing us back to Realism (i.e. survival of the fittest) and force us to fight against an unknown enemy.

And hence, it certainly will be identified as a new beginning of a new History!