Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the Spread of Economic Violence: The Framework of Civilizational Analysis

Abstract

There have been various claims to universal civilization, but modern globalization is phrased in terms of a direction and purpose that benefits all humanity. At one level of modern Western globalization, there is a conjunction of two civilizations—the Mid-Eastern and the Western scientific enlightenment. Their conjunction and identity is premised on the metaphysics of the will, regardless of the interpretation that any articulation of this conjunction might assume. Yet, two major interpretations are relevant for the analysis of globalization: the first is the Mid-Eastern theocratic civilization, where the world and the human result from a creative edict by the will of a solitary paternal figure. Nothing can escape this will. As we will see later, this tradition also has variants that flow from Persian divine autocracy through Byzantine empire Russian autocracy renamed as Marxism–Leninism, and varieties of fascisms. These articulations of civilization are all imagined to “save the world” from a fallen state that is due to the cunning of evil persons who deviate from the laws and edicts of an absolute authority.

This research is funded by the European Social Fund under the Global Grant provision.