This is not a book against the West. It neither takes sides nor argues a political point but rather reflects on the birth of a new era where the emergence of globalization encourages non-Western societies to create their own unique cultural, economic and political identities.

These new emerging societies are dual societies, neither totally modern in the Western sense nor totally traditional in the Eastern sense. Instead they have their own unique characteristics.

We are witnessing an extraordinary era where, for the first time, a complete dissociation between modernity and the West is occurring. This era is the beginning of modern non-Western countries. The colonial era, as well as the neo- or post-colonial era is thus definitely past. But the world which is emerging as a result of globalization is a divided world.

In this way for two centuries modernity has infiltrated countries known as traditional. Today its presence is undeniable. This influence, encouraged by the fast-moving process of globalization, has affected deeply the whole structure of formerly-traditional societies. Now, due to these unavoidable changes they have become more Western without being ‘Western’.

This presents a paradox: modernity is historically Western in its origins but by nature profoundly global. This brings us to the conclusion that the more modernity becomes global, the less it becomes Western. Modernity beyond the West is therefore a modernity that has become at the same time both global and local, a modernity which transcends its origins by becoming global and by combining values which are more acceptable to non-Western cultures. It is a mixed, or combined modernity. One side the Moderne values and the other side the traditional values.

By coming into contact with non-Western countries, and by influencing them, global modernity has brought a definite end to all possibility of returning to the source or returning to the past , but at the same time it is conditioned by the elements of this return and those of resistance to the West.

With driving energy and creative novelty global modernity wakens dormant forces, complicates the existence and creates a division between the past and the present in local cultures; such a situation generates on the one hand an attraction for modernity and on the other a tendency to combine both modern and traditional values. But the creation of this kind of situation does not exclude the existence of a real wish to return to the past and real attempts to do so. However a reconstruction of a past civilization is unlikely to endure and disturb in any way the move towards the globalization of modernity. Thus the global emergence of modernity has placed the so-called traditional societies in a situation of historical non-return.

Contrary to what some authors claim, it would be difficult to maintain that the only winner in the process of globalization would be the West. In fact, the West would fall victim to a dominant liberalism and would be at risk of not knowing how to take advantage of the new situation, and would find itself already overwhelmed by the effects of its victory in the world. On the other hand, globalization seems to benefit what has been considered the “third world”, particularly the Asian countries, by leading to the actualization of a historical emergence.

From now on, Asia enters the game of economic competition with the West with more power than she could ever have imagined during the past four centuries. China has shown itself as one of the prime contenders in this field. From this perspective we do not have to ask if the Asian people are actually gaining from this competition but should understand that it is creating an upheaval for the first time in four centuries of Western domination over the world. Asia has become, today, a Superpower in her own right; a Power which challenges the West. This new status represents a definite change and is one of the most important in the relationship between North and South, and East and West in world history since the beginning of the Middle Ages. It is one of the most far-reaching and positive results of globalization. Asia has entered a competition for which she has not set the rules. In effect, during the colonial era, the West forced that continent to imitate the indisputable master. Imitation became the weapon of the oppressed, and was the most decisive element in giving Asia the opportunity, after thousands of years of tradition values, to enter into direct competition with her former colonizers.

The rise of Asia has already placed the West on the first step towards a competitive conflict without future. But who will emerge ‘the victor’? To claim that the future victor is unknown would confirm that the West, for the first time, has been led into a process of historical uncertainty. This possibility is the most dangerous element which globalization presents to the Western world.

One of the major consequences of this situation, based partly on Western uncertainty and partly on the emergence of Asia, the question of who will emerge ‘the victor’ remains problematic. Could the economic rivalry between Asia and the Western world change the role of leader assumed today by the United States? In fact, this leadership is in danger of becoming exclusively economic, losing the equilibrium necessary to support a sense of direction. While in general each world power has to have a sense of direction, the West seems to be moving towards a situation of crisis and a period of instability. Faced with the Asian emergence and taking into account the fragility of the actual centre, we should thus ask whether the West is not moving towards a gradual decline, and whether the world is in the process of preparing itself for a shift of world power, probably towards Asia.

Ata Hoodasthian