Standards of Civilization in the Post-European Global Order

This chapter discusses the fate of the classical standard of civilization and its reconfiguration in the post-European global order. Particular attention is paid to the cultural revolt against the West which illustrated the Eliasian theme that outsiders invariably attempt to free themselves from traditional political and cultural shackles as power relations become less unequal. But analysts have argued that new standards of civilization re-emerged in the form of the universal human rights culture, democracy promotion and state rebuilding, and global market civilization. This chapter locates those developments in the long civilizing process. It provides a process-sociological interpretation of civilizing dynamics in the recent period. Western measures to promote civilization are resisted by powers such as China which associate the strategies with attempts to create a neo-colonial global order A central question is whether world order has reached a transitional point in which the once dominant civilization is losing power and influence and the prospects for a global civilization are receding.