The collapse of USSR in 1991 was more significant than just the breakup of a superpower. Obviously it meant the United States was finally in the driving seat over the control of international affairs and it could exert its influence over other nations with much more convenience. Yet the fall of USSR, to many, was more profound since it was the fall of communism itself. Western political scientists wasted no time in claiming that turn of events demonstrated the failure of communism as an ideology. Indeed, communism was repeatedly portrayed as a terrible evil by the West and their politicians felt they had the right to bask in the glory of their eventual victory in this war of ideas. It took six years and 50 million lives to convince the world fascism has to be done away with; the success against communism came with lesser number of lives but after half a century. The end of the twentieth century surely marked a new world order.

This sequence of events, however, also led the West to generate an astonishingly strong belief in its own political concepts and system of government. Especially in the US, an impression emerged that man’s ‘final revolution’ had begun that would spread western form of political democracy worldwide. Freedom, individualism and human rights were now being seen as universal values and liberal democracy was believed to have triumphed as a system of government. It was ‘the end of history’, as Francis Fukuyama famously put it in 1989. “Liberal Democracy may constitute the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution as well as the final form of human government. “ Fukuyama wrote. In fact, he went on to say that the problems being faced by countries which already had stable democracies stemmed from the incomplete implementation of principles like liberty and equality, rather than any sort of flaw in this system itself. His theory naturally generated an extraordinary amount of interest. Many came to believe that the ‘war of ideas’, which has been a crucial factor in shaping recent human history, had finally come to an end.

It was this belief that the US, with support from what is now the European Union, marched forward to spread democracy in the world. Spreading of western political concepts has always been on the US foreign agenda for the last 60 years but USSR’s disintegration meant that this policy was adopted with a new vigor. As a result, the last dozen years or so have seen many governments being held accountable with question marks over their records of human rights and liberty. Even strong political allies like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been recently questioned and pressurized over their form of governments.

Anyone with moderate knowledge of world cultures and political systems would be amazed to discover how much faith the West holds in its political ideology, despite the fact that world has seen a variety of civilizations and forms of government in recent times. Western leaders now routinely refer themselves to ‘the free world’ meaning they have achieved some sort of liberation over some evil forces while the rest of the world remains in chains. It needs to be pointed out that Communist North Korea, Dictatorial Iraq and Islamist Iran were labeled as a part of ‘axis of evil’ by US President George W Bush not mainly because of the material threat that they carried but because they harbor different political ideologies. While Iraq has fallen, it is interesting to note that Iranian leaders are described as hardliners and North Korea is described as a Stalinist State since they openly show their reluctance to accept US and the free world with its norms and values. Imposing its values on the rest of the world is described as universalism by the West; states like Iran define this as imperialism.

Obviously, the developments which led this free world to hold their ideology as the ultimate has been the astonishing pace of material progress that the West has achieved in the last couple of centuries. With the quality of living being so high and a massive difference existing in the West and the rest of the world as far as technological developments are concerned, it is only natural for political experts to believe that their ideas are ‘the ultimate’. British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressing the US Congress in 2003 said, ‘Our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs ... ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit and anywhere, any time, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, and the choice is the same, freedom not tyranny.’ Consequently, we are standing at a juncture where the West is convinced that mankind’s savior is liberal democracy so it really shouldn’t come as any surprise when you hear President Bush giving statements claiming he is being directed by God in his foreign policy.

Western leaders may claim of the superiority of their ideas but history demonstrates otherwise. Civilizations have risen and then fallen, only to be replaced by new civilizations which themselves follow the same pattern. The Pharaohs of Egypt claimed they were invincible; so did the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. Today their ideas of governance have been reduced to history books and encyclopedias. Do we have reason to believe that freedom, individualism and liberty could undergo a similar transformation from ‘the ultimate values’ to just being another chapter in these history books?

Of course, such a proposition seems absurd at the moment since USA is the dominating force in the world; the sole superpower. It is interesting, however, to compare the current state of affairs to that of World War II. Fascism had then swept Germany and Italy in the 1930s and as an ideology, had come up as a rival to soviet communism and western capitalism. By mid 1942, Germany, Italy and Japan had captured almost entire Europe, North Africa, Asia Pacific and were knocking on the doors of Soviet Union and South Asia. Could anyone have claimed at that point that this Nazism is a flawed ideology since it favors dictatorship and it would be wiped off the planet in just a number of years? Today Fascism is looked upon as possibly the greatest evil that threatened mankind; less than a century ago it had almost taken over three continents. Regardless of whether spreading democracy is good or bad, it is worth noting how the perception of the general public, even of the Germans themselves, changed in such a short span of time.

If the West is to fade away ideologically in the near future, its concepts need to be atleast challenged by another ideology. Is there any ideology present today that can rival the West with its ideas? For the moment, the West is too strong and dominating for it to be directly challenged. Yet the recent turn of events seem to give us some clues. A number of experts have pointed out that the start of the War on Terror just a decade after the end of the Cold War is no coincidence. They label Islamic radicalism and fundamentalism as that direct competitor to the West in a new war of ideas. Even President Bush in his recent statements has linked Islamic fanaticism to Fascism as well as Communism, which are now both seen as ‘evil ideologies’. Islamic fundamentalism in fact has many of the ingredients that make it a complete ideology.

It convinces people to adopt Islam completely in their lives and defines structuring of the societies. The Sharia or Islamic Law is seen as the source from which laws emanate while the Muslims are looked upon as one ummah with an Islamic bond existing between the people. While the campaign to root out what seems to be this fast-spreading set of ‘extremist’ ideas, is now four years old, the progress from the West’s point of view so far has been close to nothing. In fact, it is an open secret how the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have led to increase in the hatred of US and Britain throughout the Muslim world. Even after such an active anti-AlQaeda campaign by the western media, Osama bin Laden remains a hero to many Muslims worldwide and this Islamic radicalism is found to be gaining popularity in Muslim lands. Those who still claim that the world is moving towards globalization and agencies like the UN can accelerate a smooth transition of our world into a utopia where nations implement western form of government and coexist peacefully, it would be better to reconsider.

Muslim on the whole are turning back to their religion in a sort of Islamic Resurgence and 9/11 has only acted as a catalyst for this change. Western experts however remark that while they find no problem with this development, the ‘radical’ form presents a grave threat. Analysts do point out that this aspect is something inherent in the religion itself. Islam is viewed by many as inseparable from politics and Muslims worldwide still see Islam as their supreme guide in each and every walk of life. This is in complete contrast to the West where religion plays a limited role in governing life affairs. Therefore, it is only natural that a clash has emerged between an ‘extremist’ Muslim world (as described by West) and a ‘godless’ West (as described by the Muslims). How much this wave can directly challenge the West, only time will tell. For the moment, we can be quite sure that an ideological battle is on our hands and can cross our fingers and wait to experience another intriguing period in man’s remarkable journey on this planet.