Global Social Contract: A Recipe For Anarchy A Critical Study Of The American Political Philosophy During The George W. Bush Administration.

As the world enters a novel stage of division between a sphere of freedom and democracy, and a sphere of despotism, “the clash of civilizations”, a habit of mind reflected earlier by Samuel Huntington, is again poignantly relevant in understanding why wars may break out. It is, therefore, fashionable now to blame the danger of war on a “clash of civilizations”, but the main reason why wars may indeed break out is not likely to be the general differences between the old civilisations of the world but modern developments within them that are producing inflexibility, intolerance, and belligerence. Such attitudes indeed have been more common within the United States, which, by dint of its military and economic power, can affect international relations more decisively than any other country. The attitude of assertiveness and militancy in dealing with other countries have long been spreading among leading American policymakers. This trend, though it has no single origin, can be traced in its most general characteristics to the American universalism as it was inspired by the neo-conservatives that ran the George W. Bush administration.