Civilizations and the twenty-first century: some theoretical considerations

Since the end of the Cold War, globalization has become thecentralphenomenon in world politics. Civilizations, once geographicallybased,are now loosened from fixed space, as migration of peoples andof ideashas accelerated. A focus on the dimensions of intersubjectivitywill give someunderstanding both of differences among civilizationsand on transformationsof civilizations. Attention is thus givento different forms of substantiveeconomies, to historical dominanceand subordination of civilizations and tothe reawakenings ofcultures; to what Sorokin called the sensate andideationaltypes of consciousness and to different forms of spirituality,andto relative orientations toward time and space. Two propositionsare implicitin a concern for civilizations: (i) that thereare alternatives for the humanfuture, and (ii) that if differentcivilizations do coexist, the problem ofmutual comprehensionbecomes paramount for the maintenance of world order. Theimplicationsfor a research program are to study civil societies as thesourcesof intersubjective meanings, the maintenance of the biosphereas thebasic material condition of existence of all civilizations,and worldgovernance as the modus vivendi of a plural world.