Globalization as a social concept based on the principle of universalism
announced the beginning of a new era and a model of international society,
which would mean a sort of end of historical cycles. Optimistic faith in
progress was one of the driving ideas of this, one of the most popular
concepts of the global society. Proponents of globalization have claimed that
the triumph of the West in the Cold War competition confirmed the superiority
of the liberal model and represented a break with the real political
perception of international politics. In this way, as argued, the conditions
were created for the societies around the world to start their own
reconstruction, creating a global culture and universalization of democratic
governance, permanently overcoming war and establishing the lasting peace.
The nature and dynamics of relationships in international politics
unambiguously confirmed that the social and political reality has not
developed as announced by the proponents of globalization, at the beginning
of the last decade of the twentieth century. The modern world fell into a
time of confusion, uncertainty and insecurity, growing into a global risk
society. Strong rapprochement of nations, political communities and cultures
and intensifying their interdependence encouraged more intense disagreement,
the emergence of new national models, radicalizing definitions of identity to
the most devastating forms. Globalization has not transformed the world, and
the concept of global governance of the world proved to be a failed attempt,
manifesting a variety of system dysfunctions. At the same time, the more
pronounced interdependence of contemporary societies, based on the
technological achievements of the postindustrial world, has expanded the
range of issues that require the global approach.
Cyclical theories of social change: Spengler and Toynbee