The End of Empire

After 500 years, has the dominant position of Western Civilization come to an end? Not so long ago the eminent historian Arnold Toynbee believed that all other civilizations had effectively disappeard and hd been absorbed by the victorious Western Civilization. But by the end of the 20th century it is clear that this was an incrorrect diagnosis. The Islamic Civilization continues to exist, and has embarked on a very different course of its own. Western imperialism has withdrawn from practically all the colonial possessions and outposts it had occupied. Most of the Western traces that were left behind in previous colonies in Africa and Asia will likely disappear or be transformed to have a much more local flavour. But the West is certainly not finished, as Oswald Spengler had assumed early in the 20th century. America and Western Europe are more prosperous than ever. Yet while, out of the three great economic centres of the world, two, Western Europe and its American scion, are of the western tradition, they do not control the world’s destinies any longer.