Conclusion

Abstract

In the second decade of the 21st century the peoples of the world face a number of serious challenges to their future, as Timothy Garton Ash (2004) has argued so clearly. These challenges include global terrorism stemming from fundamentalist Islamic movements; issues associated with the transition of global power and influence from the West to Asia, particularly to China; global poverty, which lies at the root of much of the migration that is challenging the developed countries; and, finally, global warming and other environmental problems that threaten to degrade the environment on which we depend for our very existence. Ash maintains that these challenges should be viewed not simply as threats to Western civilization as we have come to know it over the past half millennium, but also as opportunities for the countries of Europe and North America to join together to ensure a bright future for themselves and the other peoples of the world.