Part of a series on |
Human history Human Era |
---|
↑ Prehistory (Stone Age) ( Pleistocene epoch ) |
↓ Future |
The post-Western era, considered by some to overlap with the post-American era, [1] [2] [3] is a conjectured time period starting around the 21st century or afterward in which the West is no longer dominant, and other civilizations (particularly Asian ones) [4] gain power. [5] [6] In the context of rising Asian powers (sometimes as part of a broader Global East) [7] or a rising Global South, the terms Easternization and Southernization respectively are sometimes applied (analogous to Westernization). [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Proponents often argue in favor of a post-Western era by pointing out Western abuses of power during the colonial and post-colonial eras, [13] [14] while opponents argue that Western values and civilization are pivotal to human progress and an orderly world, and that a post-Western world might not honor them to the same extent as the West has. [15] [16]
Western countries initially believed that a post-Western era could be averted or be achieved with most countries following Western values by creating global prosperity and cooperation through a common market system and economic globalization across the world, but later found that various non-Western nations did not want to fully Westernize or adopt Western values while benefitting from such systems. [17]
The Russo-Ukrainian War was noted to have demonstrated the emergence of some features of a post-Western world order during its major escalation in the 2020s, as the West was unable to rally Global South nations to support Ukraine despite Western solidarity, in what was seen as various countries prioritizing their own interests and a blow to the rules-based world order. [18] [19] [20] [21] The Israel–Hamas war that started in 2023 created further doubts about the West maintaining leadership of the world order, as Southern countries alleged a double standard by the West resulting in the genocide of Gazans. [22] [23] [24]
In some sense, Europe itself has been argued to be increasingly post-Western, as it has successfully integrated a previously fractious and conflict-ridden group of countries into the European Union and into institutions that command respect for certain values such as democracy. With the acceptance in the rest of the world of Western systems, Europe has become increasingly open to mixing with and acknowledging its influences from other civilizations. [25] [26] [27] [28]
The West has a significantly aging population, with the cost of care associated with the elderly along with decreasing standards of living for those on a median income and other negative economic factors creating the possibility of a decline in Western military and economic power. [29] Opposition by some in the West to various forms of globalization, which are perceived to have spurred on economic inequality and primarily be for the benefit of a global elite, has also created a decline in desire within the West to fully engage with the rules-based order. [30]
Some debate has emerged within the West around how it should manage its relations with other parts of the world to best transition into a post-Western era, with some calling for the West to maintain internal solidarity around its values, [31] while others call for the West to less stringently uphold its values in its foreign relations so as to better integrate with and potentially influence the increasingly influential non-Western nations. [32]
Various factors are said to indicate the decline of Western power and potentially Western values around the world. Asia's youth population has grown significantly relative to the West, with countries such as China acquiring more technological capabilities that can influence the world and potentially be used to reduce individuals' abilities to express their individual rights and/or share power with other individuals in a democratic form of government (see Techno-nationalism). [35]
South–South cooperation has become more discussed, with the developing world trading more within itself than with OECD countries since 2013. [36] By 2050, one projection shows that the world's economic center of gravity may lie between India and China. [37]
Authoritarian non-Western nations have increasingly sought to reshape global institutions to reduce human rights enforcement upon themselves. [29]
India has come to exemplify a kind of neutral, self-interested model among non-Western countries during the Russo-Ukrainian War, demonstrating a desire to move towards a multipolar world where it can work with multiple partners. It has also shown a decreasing interest in full democracy and pluralism, as seen in the rise of Hindu nationalism and increasing attacks upon political opponents of the Indian government. [38]
Civilizational exceptionalism has increasingly been used as a rationale by non-Western countries to carve out space for themselves on the world stage and to justify domestic authoritarianism. [39]
Some post-Western advocates believe that non-Western countries can do a better job than the West in terms of addressing climate change, referencing climate change's origins in various actions taken by the West. [40] Western voices have debated how to address climate change in an era where the West is less likely to lead or be able to create cooperation with non-Western countries. [41]
Christianity's decline in the West has been argued by some to be contributing to what they see as the West's declining ability to enforce its values both within itself and in the wider world. [42] [43]
Christianity's strong historical identification with the West has also become increasingly relevant, as Christians seek to modify their promotion of the religion in a way which can better reach non-Western peoples, and as the religion increasingly grows in the Global South in a form that comes in some conflict with Western-style Christianity. [44] [45] [46] Over time, more Western Christians have come to the conclusion that the spread of Christianity need not be strongly paired with Western culture or values to be successful or beneficial. [47] There has also been some debate around how Western Christians should engage with or protect non-Western Christians, particularly in the context of religious repression of non-Western Christians. [48]
Though many modern sports came from the West and originally dispersed through the world via colonialism, there is now an increasing tendency of former colonies to dominate these sports' organizational apparatuses. [50] For example, India has been noted for becoming the dominant power in world cricket, a sport which it had been introduced to during British rule, [8] through its ability to use its large population and market to earn vast revenues through the Indian Premier League and the commercial appeal of the T20 format. [51] [52]
Asia is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population.
The history of Christianity follows the Christian religion as it developed from its earliest beliefs and practices in the first century, spread geographically in the Roman Empire and beyond, and became a global religion in the twenty-first century.
The "Clash of Civilizations" is a thesis that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post–Cold War world. The American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington argued that future wars would be fought not between countries, but between cultures. It was proposed in a 1992 lecture at the American Enterprise Institute, which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled "The Clash of Civilizations?", in response to his former student Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man. Huntington later expanded his thesis in a 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order.
Samuel Phillips Huntington was an American political scientist, adviser, and academic. He spent more than half a century at Harvard University, where he was director of Harvard's Center for International Affairs and the Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor.
Westernization, also Europeanisation or occidentalization, is a process whereby societies come under or adopt what is considered to be Western culture, in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economics, lifestyle, law, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, diet, clothing, language, writing system, religion, and philosophy. During colonialism it often involved the spread of Christianity.
Christianization is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individual conversions but has also, in some instances, been the result of coercion from governments or military leaders. Christianization is also the term used to designate the conversion of previously non-Christian practices, spaces and places to Christian uses and names. In a third manner, the term has been used to describe the changes that naturally emerge in a nation when sufficient numbers of individuals convert, or when secular leaders require those changes. Christianization of a nation is an ongoing process.
Eurasianism is a socio-political movement in Russia that emerged in the early 20th century under the Russian Empire, which states that Russia does not belong in the "European" or "Asian" categories but instead to the geopolitical concept of Eurasia governed by the "Russian world", forming an ostensibly standalone Russian civilization.
Christianity in Africa first arrived in Egypt in approximately 50 AD. By the end of the 2nd century it had reached the region around Carthage. In the 4th century, the Aksumite empire in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea became one of the first regions in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion. The Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia followed two centuries later. From the late fifth and early sixth century, the region included several Christian Berber kingdoms. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity and shaped the doctrines of Christianity include Tertullian, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo.
Church renewal is a term widely used by church leaders to express hope for revitalization of the Church in light of the decline of Christianity in many western countries. The idea of a post-Christian era has made church renewal a popular topic of study among many commentators.
East Asia is a region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. Hong Kong and Macau, two coastal cities located in the south of China, are autonomous regions under Chinese sovereignty. The economies of Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are some of the world's largest and most prosperous economies. East Asia borders Siberia and the Russian Far East to the north, Southeast Asia to the south, South Asia to the southwest, and Central Asia to the west. To the east is the Pacific Ocean and to the southeast is Micronesia.
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and states in the regions of Australasia, Western Europe, and Northern America; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also constitute the West. The Western world likewise is called the Occident in contrast to the Eastern world known as the Orient. The West is considered an evolving concept; made up of cultural, political, and economic synergy among diverse groups of people, and not a rigid region with fixed borders and members. Definitions of "Western world" vary according to context and perspectives.
Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, or Western society, includes the diverse heritages of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies of the Western world. The core of Western civilization, broadly defined, is formed by the combined foundations of Greco-Roman civilization and Western Christianity. While Western culture is a broad concept, and does not relate to a region with fixed members or geographical confines, it generally relates to the cultures of countries with historical ties to a European country or a number of European countries, or to the variety of cultures within Europe itself. However, countries toward the east of Europe are sometimes excluded from definitions of the Western world.
Postchristianity is the situation in which Christianity is no longer the dominant civil religion of a society but has gradually assumed values, culture, and worldviews that are not necessarily Christian. Post-Christian tends to refer to the loss of Christianity's monopoly in historically Christian societies to atheism or secularism. It does not include formerly Christian-majority societies such as present-day region of Turkey and the Balkans that now follow other religions such as Islam.
Lamin Sanneh was the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Professor of History at Yale University.
Christianity and colonialism are often closely associated with each other due to the service of Christianity, in its various sects, as the state religion of the historical European colonial powers, in which Christians likewise made up the majority. Through a variety of methods, Christian missionaries acted as the "religious arms" of the imperialist powers of Europe. According to Edward E. Andrews, Associate Professor of Providence College Christian missionaries were initially portrayed as "visible saints, exemplars of ideal piety in a sea of persistent savagery". However, by the time the colonial era drew to a close in the later half of the 20th century, missionaries were viewed as "ideological shock troops for colonial invasion whose zealotry blinded them", colonialism's "agent, scribe and moral alibi".
Anti-Western sentiment, also known as anti-Atlanticism or Westernophobia, refers to broad opposition, bias, or hostility towards the people, culture, or policies of the Western world.
When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order is a book by British journalist and scholar Martin Jacques. It was released in 2009. Jacques refers to the estimates on China's economic superiority, such as made by Goldman Sachs, and concludes that China's future economic strength will heavily alter the political and cultural landscape of the future world. The book was originally released in the UK under the subtitle "The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World".
Andrew Finlay Walls was a British historian of missions, best known for his pioneering studies of the history of the African church and a pioneer in the academic field of World Christianity.
World Christianity or global Christianity has been defined both as a term that attempts to convey the global nature of the Christian religion and an academic field of study that encompasses analysis of the histories, practices, and discourses of Christianity as a world religion and its various forms as they are found on the six continents. However, the term often focuses on "non-Western Christianity" which "comprises instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." It also includes Indigenous or diasporic forms of Christianity in the Caribbean, South America, Western Europe, and North America.
"Western values" are a set of values strongly associated with the West which generally posit the importance of an individualistic culture. Originally, they are often seen as related to Judeo-Christian values, although since the 20th century are generally associated with other sociopolitical aspects of the West, such as free-market capitalism, feminism, liberal democracy and the legacy of the sexual revolution.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of February 2024 (link){{citation}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of February 2024 (link){{cite book}}
: |journal=
ignored (help){{cite book}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)