The idea that our world is on the verge of eventually coagulating into one colossal state with one single government is not as far fetched an idea as it might seem on the first glance. This may not sound as pithy and metaphoric as saying that the world is becoming one small village, but it is more accurate and realistic diagnosis of unfolding events. But this raises another important question: What would be the character and cultural identity of this emerging political formation!

We know that communication has always been the principal limit on the size, extent, and maintenance of states and empires. But this obstacle has already been taken care of. We now can communicate with the moon and distant stars, let alone far corners of the earth. From Nasa you can give instructions to the man walking on the moon, and from your headquarters in the pentagon you can easily direct a street battle in the back alleys of Basrah or the dusty roads in Afghanistan, just as easily as you can instantly transfer an account from Chase Manhattan to a small bank in a remote village in the backwoods of India. The whole globe is turning into one uninterrupted communication field. Hard as they may try, autocratic and absolutist governments are no longer able to stop the flow of information on satellites and the Internet. Over the last few thousand years the world has moved from camels through the wheel to supersonic jets and from clay tablets through the press to microchips.

Let’s go back to the Aristotelian logic and his theory on the origin of human society and the state. In the beginning there was the family, or, if you prefer to argue the case from the holy scripture, Mr. Adam and Mrs. Eve and their children. Then comes the small village followed by the tribe. The state itself was a late and momentous event in human history. Empire building came later. Colonialism was an early attempt to unite the world under one central government. But neither the aims, mainly merchantalistic with moral dressing, nor the communication means, the telegraph and the ocean fleet, were sufficiently effective to sustain the colonial grip.

Nowadays, the whole world is practically intermeshed in one economic system. World Trade Organization is the visible organ of such intermeshing. Globalization of the economy is the first step towards realizing the global state.

Recent events in human history have proven two important facts. The first fact is that you cannot conquer people by weapons and ruthless means, but you can do that through much softer and more effective means, by snaring and enticing them culturally. The second fact is that alphabets and systems of writing are important facilitators of cultural dominance. Some scripts, such as Arabic and Chinese are beautiful as calligraphies, but Latin and Greek are more amenable to technological manipulation. Digital technology has entrenched this fact. The interlocking of Latin script with communication and software technology has already determined the future course of human civilization. So far, all attempts to adapt other scripts to modern software and information technologies are mere make-do. Information is the backbone of human culture and the world is on its way to being dominated by software and paperless offices.

Furthermore, the market approach of capitalism has divested cultural products of their national exclusiveness and regional particularism. It turned cultural items from being revered marks of racial or social identity into marketable commodities that could be mass- produced, packaged and marketed, from cuisine, to music, to fashions, and what have you. This practical matter-of-fact approach made capitalist culture irresistible and facilitated its global circulation and consumption. Hamburgers, pizzas, stakes, blue jeans, the beetles, and the list is endless. Even Christian holidays such as Christmas and Valentine are spreading world wide due to the mass appeal of the commercialism and consumable products, which have become associated with them.

An important factor in this race towards cultural dominance is the capitalist emphasis on the brute fact that man, after all, is a biological organism, before he was a moral or spiritual being. Capitalism has turned the old formula around to give precedent to the need of the flesh over the need of the soul. Through giving due importance to basic biological needs and making them licit, such as food, sex, fashion and display, the capitalist culture is enticing and snaring people from other cultures. Aside from their deep seated appeal, such basic biological needs are much more universal and eternal than religious morals and ideologies that are relative, ephemeral and culture specific, varying across time and space.

Under capitalism, religious and moral injunctions have given ground to utility and efficiency, the aim of which is to keep the universe livable, the social system running, and the human individual alive, healthy, happy and productive.

Morals have always been buttressed by religious beliefs, but science has settled the old controversy between spiritualists and rationalists on the one hand and the materialists and empiricists on the other hand in favor of the latter. More and more people are tuning to scientific manuals, rather than holy scripts, to look for meaning and explanation of physical and social phenomenon. The heaven, where God and the angels once resided, has evaporated into gases and constellations. Adam, after all, turned out to be an ape who did not fall from heaven, but walked out of the jungle, a much more optimistic and hopeful perspective, which promises progress for humankind rather than degeneration. Not much is left for the hazy hereafter, which has receded into a very indistinct background. Only life on this earth is real and worth pursuing. Very faint traces of the belief in life after death have remained.

Religious morals have given ground to contractual and legal arrangements. The subjective notions of right and wrong have been replaced by the principles of legal and illegal, which are more objective and practical. Right in the moral sense, is being replaced by right in the legal sense. Prerogatives of reward and punishment have been transferred from the hand of the deity to the hand of the state apparatus represented by courts of law.

When we talk about Western science, we are not talking merely of its technological byproduct, though this is not to be underestimated,, but, more importantly, about the corollary mental perspective; about the positivist, empirical, objective and practical outlook on the physical and social world around you. Once again, the more you push to the background the subjective aspect of human existence the closer you come to universal standards of perceiving, evaluating, and dealing with things and events, the more you come to realizing the absolute mind, a la Georg Hegel.

Hamburger and pizza are not the only force behind the appeal of Western capitalist culture. Since the age of enlightenment, the West has been busy articulating principles and coining terminologies with universal human appeal, such as individual liberty, racial equality, political democracy, human rights and other principles, which are based on intuitive and self-evident truths, a la John Lock. It is very difficult to contest the validity and power of these values. At times, they are given a sacred ring and used as a pretext to launch a new brand of jihad against countries and nations, which do not adhere to them. Such errant countries would be forced to be “democratic” through undemocratic means, just as various religions resort to slaughter to force others into the love and mercy of their deity.

The accelerating process of cultural homogenization across the whole world, the rapid development of communication technology, and economic globalization are the essential infrastructural ingredients that are clearing the ground for eventual unification of the whole world under one state. The legal side of this process started with the formation of the United Nations, followed by various international organs, the latest of which is the World Trade Organization. Not to join these world organizations would put a country at great disadvantage. But to join them would mean abiding by their bylaws and fine-tuning all local rules and regulations to conform to these bylaws. On the political side, we have already entered the age of big coalitions, such as NATO, EU, and GCC.

As for currency, Western coins (dollar, pound, and Euro) are becoming the international money by default.

Some people already have the feeling that the world in actuality is run by one superpower. All that remains is for the rest of the world to start participating in the election of the president of this superpower, since the decisions he takes affect their lives more than their own local rulers, especially those countries dependent on foreign aid.

Please take note of two important points. First, I am not talking here of imperial conquest nor clash of civilization. The process I am expounding here takes place more through osmosis than through force and violence. Second, I am not talking about an Anglo-Saxon culture, but a Western capitalist culture. This would shift the focus of the argument from the racial to the socio-economic conditions and historical processes and accidents (such historical accidents as the choice of a particular alphabet), and perhaps a pinch of natural ecology and physical environment, which gave rise to this culture. Whoever happened to live in this social and physical setting, whatever might be his racial or national background, could be a positive contributor to it. Furthermore, any race or nation could easily elbow its way into this culture and contribute to it.