The debate of the past decade between Asian and Western values has been replaced, at least temporarily, with the struggle between fundamentalist Islamic values and their Western counterpart. A clash between civilisations has, in certain ways, existed for thousands of years and, as the world shrinks, the recurrent distemper between them rises more frequently to boiling point. We are in such a moment today. With the destructive weaponry that is now in our hands, however, the challenge of learning to live together and fashion a global political system that can manage conflict and defuse tension has attained high stakes. For our common redemption and perhaps even survival in the long-term, we had better get it right.
History is by no means replete with examples of past acts of positive and visionary statecraft.
Ever since Menes united Egypt five millennia ago and Sargon carved out the world's first empire eight centuries later, most leaders have dreamed of unity imposed through conquest rather than forged through reason. Two millennia ago, Asoka of India, and later T'ai Sung of China, laid down for their subjects the values of compassion and harmony that were fashioned along Buddhist and Confucian ideals, initiatives that were unprecedented in their import for political behaviour. But both men had, prior to their conversions, secured their empires through the uncompromising use of force. Contemporaneously, Kang Hsi would send his monks abroad to learn from other civilisations, and they would return to impart their new knowledge to an enlightened monarch and his subjects. In modern times, leaders with visions of unity through reason have wrought their deeds on the global stage.