If western liberalism brought people ideologically closer, an identity based Weltanschauung has increasingly reversed this process.
If one had the ability to find a place on the moon to watch the events unfolding on earth with an ability to rewind and fast forward its history, he or she would witness a fascinating kaleidoscopic view of its historic development. One would have seen the evolution of animal species and humans and the emergence of society and culture, the rise, growth and collapse of kingdoms and nation states.
Let us start from 1789, The Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on 4 July 1776 where Thomas Jefferson declared that all men have an inalienable right of equality and it was the duty of the government to safeguard this right. He further added that an "equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental." This idea was codified into the Bill of Rights 1789 transforming, for the first time, the moral or philosophical rights into the national laws of a country.
Events that unfolded thereafter showed several countries in Europe and elsewhere adopting the same ideals and worked towards enshrining these rights in their laws. When the Second World War ended and former colonies became independent, an overwhelming majority of these chose to follow the ideals of democracy, freedom, equality, and fraternity. In 1948, the United Nations made human rights the standard of international justice by adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Soviet Bloc adopted a different view on the evolution of societies based on the theory of Marx, which stated that societies move in stages from tribal form, primitive communes, feudal and capitalist based on the control over the means of production and believing that once this oppressive mechanism is removed the final stage of communism would emerge. However, the Cold War ended in 1989 and the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, leading Francis Fukuyama, the American political scientist to triumphantly declare in his book, The End of History and the Last Man. The End of History rather sweepingly, yet prematurely proclaimed the termination of humankind's ideological evolution and the universalisation of western liberal democracy as the final form of political order and government.
India's own freedom movement was guided by these principles and when the time came to encode it, India too, enshrined in its constitution the same ideals of liberty, equality, freedom, justice and secularism. As the history of post-Independence India progressed, even non-justiciable Directive Principles started to gain importance among lawmakers. The judiciary espoused the basic Rights of Man. The Idea of India envisioned by Nehru was a mirror of the ideological moorings of western liberalism.
To someone, visualising this afar would have started to look ideologically quite homogeneous. Though each country had a past, which was quite distinct, the gradual unfolding of its political will implied a convergence ideals and principles. With the passage of time each country shed its past ideological baggage in its quest to achieve, what is commonly understood as the goals of the Global Citizen.
John F. Kennedy and Jawaharlal Nehru, United States, 1961These ideological leanings were also reflected in states becoming members under the aegis of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) and other multilateral bodies like the European Union where, beginning in 1950 following the Second World War, leading to the 1990s when two treaties: the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1993 and the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 were formalised.
China, though following a different ideology than the western liberal democracy, joined the free market after Deng Xiaoping initiated reforms in the late 1970s, further aiding the globalisation of world trade. More globalised trade meant that national barriers on free movement of goods and people started to break down rapidly.
If our person on the moon were to plot the ideological convergence of the world towards western liberalism on a graph with time period on the 'x' axis and the ideology of western liberalism on the 'y' axis, she would have seen a distinct pattern of countries moving closer and closer towards common goals. This would have been, on a broader scale, the unmistakable pattern until the end of the 20th century.
Take for example India. In 1999, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with its distinct ideological plank found favour with voters. Though this ended in 2004, the party was voted back to power with a thumping majority in 2014. The BJP's juggernaut has continued with the latest stunning victory in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. It is remarkable that after almost 70 years as a functioning democracy, there is an unmistakable tectonic ideological shift. Being in power at the Centre and 16 states of India is no mean feat for a party which was at the political fringe for most of the 20th century.
Internationally, Brexit was a bolt from the blue for many political pundits. The United Kingdom, a country, which initiated the long and arduous journey towards liberalism and gave the world the Magna Carta, known for the strength of its institutions, the tolerance of its population and an outward looking and measured foreign policy, unilaterally decided to withdraw from the European Union in a close-call plebiscite. Since Brexit, Europe has witnessed the rise of leaders who are more insular in their views.
Subsequently, the voters of the United States have also made their choice by electing a president who denounces the ideals of liberalism and the principles of globalisation. Some of his statements go against the fundamental tenets, which define America's identity.
If we take India, the US and the countries of Europe, we find that there are unmistakable signs that the progress of globalisation based on the principles of liberalism has slowed down considerably and in some cases, there is a movement away from a homogenised ideological worldview. People are looking at their roots to find their bearings. People increasingly want to assert their cultural identity, and in doing so clearly want to demonstrate that they are different, triggering xenophobia. If the adoption of the western liberalism brought people ideologically closer, an identity based Weltanschauung has increasingly reversed this process. This phenomenon is visible both at the transnational and national levels. Significantly, at the sub national level too, people are demonstrating their cultural moorings as was evident from the support to the pro-Jallikattu movement in Tamil Nadu.
The question is whether the ideological anchor and appeal of western liberalism has lost its relevance leading societies to look inwards for answers to identity and culture. Only time will tell, but signs are discernibly ominous.
The author is Research Intern at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
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