Lingua Francas for the New Millennium

Abstract

At the time of writing the first edition of this book (from 2001 to 2003) the United States was the only superpower. The bi-polarity of the Cold War had vanished. Russia and Eastern Europe were reinventing themselves. The so-called ‘developing’ world was struggling to recover from a number of financial crises (Thailand 1997; Indonesia 1997; Argentina 2002). Only the European Union, which expanded its political dimension in the Maastricht (1992), Amsterdam (1997) and Nice (2001) Treaties and introduced a single currency, the Euro (1999/2002), seemed as if it might be a global player, if not actually able to mount a challenge to US dominance. The West felt itself to be in the ascendancy, exhibited a certain triumphalism¹ and this provoked resentment. English, the medium through which Anglo-Saxon hegemony was enacted, also caused irritation. The situation was as documented in Chapter 7.