E Pluribus Unum – A dangerous concept for the world since not always those who are not like us are against us

Abstract

AbstractToday’s world is less stable than the Cold War international system. Why didn’t the high expectations for a peaceful world materialise that existed 30 years ago? This Article singles out two interrelated trends that stem from mistakes made when it seemed that humanity, having learned from history, was entering a period of the ‘end of history’. This forms the very basis for today’s negative tendencies to flourish. The triumphant West tried to unify the whole world under one leadership and to make it uniform. Yet, the world is simply too big, complex and diverse for only one ideology, be it Judeo-Christian, Anglo-Saxon, Confucian, Muslim or secular liberal-democratic, to dominate. Therefore, those states that couldn’t or didn’t want to follow Washington, began to claim their own place and the right to go their own way. Until it is recognised that there is a value in acceptance of diverse ways of life within a society and in the existence of diverse political systems, economic models and societal arrangements, there will not be even a relative peace in the world. Equally, recognition and acceptance of balance of power in international relations is even more important than the adherence to the principle of separation of powers within states. The second trend is expressed in conflicts between elites and masses, whose grievances are exploited by populists. The idea that globalisation would lead, if not to the disappearance of the State, then at least to a considerable shrinking of its role, turned out to be wrong.