In a changing world, there are two known political futures: Jihad and Mc World. They are complete opposites of each other. Benjamin Barber writes, " One driven by parochial hatreds, the other by universalizing markets, the one re-creating ancient sub national and ethnic borders from within, the other making national borders porous from without (53)". They offer no future for any kind of democracy. The Jihad is the war between cultures, countries, and tribes. The Mc World is the "fast music, fast computers, and fast food (53)". Mc World is tied together by technology, ecology, communications, and commerce. Jihad best describes the situation between Israel and Palestine. The war in the nations between the two different cultures can be called a modern day Jihad. On the other hand, The McWorld can best describe the conditions in The U.S. and Other Western European countries, like France, Great Britain, and China. The following article is a summary of Jihad, Mc World, and their characteristics after September 11.
The Mc World is the more formal way of life in the U.S. We live in a fast-paced world and real a lot on globalization. These are two more qualities of a Mc World. The McWorld is made of four imperatives: Market, Resource, Information-technology, and ecological. Barber writes, " by shrinking the world and diminishing the salience of national borders, the imperatives have in combination achieved a considerable victory over factious and particularize, and not least of all over nationalism (54)". The market imperative is the method in which markets of free trade, open banking, and enforceable contracts are eroding national sovereignty. The market imperative has led to the quest for international peace and stability. The markets are enemies of war and isolation. The market imperative is very powerful, but it is not in agreement with democracy. The resource imperative is the basic need for one nation to depend on another nation for a resource.
