The New World Order: A View from Africa

Abstract

The Cold War, arguably the greatest war of the modern world in terms of its reach, impact, and intensity, is over, but its influence was so pervasive and profound that its passing away can be expected to be in its own right a momentous event in world history. If academic writings are any guide, there are not many who believe that a new world order has emerged or that it is even in the making. This skepticism may have less to do with the reality than the image of the person who coined the term. Contemporary society appears to be in the grip of a postmodern consciousness that eschews all epiphanies and sees no faith, only pluralities, differences, contradictions, and archaeologies of knowledge that validate themselves rather arbitrarily. It is increasingly difficult to agree on a definition of globalization; as studies of the process proliferate, so does the problem of defining it.