INTRODUCTION
For much of the twentieth century, the world was divided between East and West, communist and capitalist, left and right. The international divide was replicated within most Western countries, with left-wing parties advocating some form of socialism, and right-wing parties upholding various forms of conservatism and liberal capitalism. While this meant the global stage was dominated by Cold War – and frequent more heated conflicts – and domestic politics were characterised by fierce ideological divisions and class tensions, both sides claimed to represent the best hope for democracy, freedom and material progress.
To these ends, Marxists saw communism, whether in its Soviet form or some form still to come, as the future of capitalism, the more or less inevitable destiny of human society. When the Soviet Union collapsed, ending the Cold War and disorienting the left internationally, the American thinker Francis Fukuyama famously claimed that it was now liberal capitalism, not communism, that had been shown to be the final destiny of humanity: it was ‘The End of History’. Ideology was a thing of the past.
It was another American thinker, Samuel Huntingdon, who soon gave voice to a strikingly different vision. Huntingdon argued that the Cold War had given way to a ‘Clash of Civilisations’: rather than politics in the traditional sense, it was culture that would now divide the world and become the main source of conflict. And perhaps the most important divide would be between the West and the Islamic world. Huntingdon’s thesis was very controversial, and is far from universally accepted, but many Arabic countries did indeed have significant anti-Western movements. During the Cold War these had often been influenced by Communism, and were generally anti-colonial and secular in nature; now they were increasingly taking on a religious character. Contemporary radical Islam can thus be seen as a response to the demise of traditional ideology, offering a new outlet for dissatisfaction with the prevailing world order.
In the domestic sphere, too, post-ideological ‘secular liberal’ values have not been embraced by everyone. It is not only radical Muslims who seek an alternative vision: ongoing debates about what it means to be British reveal a deep concern with cultural identity, while controversies over the role of religion in public life show that some Christians and others too feel they must struggle to hold onto their religious values. Even the rise of environmentalism demonstrates unease with materialism and a questioning of what we mean by progress. All this means ideology and belief remain important aspects of contemporary life. While it is Islamist terrorism and other extremist violence that attract most attention, there are deeper questions about what we believe and how we want to live that are worthy of consideration as we think about the future.
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