End of History, Clash of Civilizations, or Jihad vs. McWorld?

After the Cold War, scholars offered competing big ideas about where the connected world was heading. In 1989 Francis Fukuyama asked whether history had ended, arguing that liberal democracy might become the final form of government. In 1993 Samuel Huntington replied that future conflicts would be between civilizations defined largely by culture and religion.

Political theorist Benjamin Barber, in a 1992 article and 1995 book, argued that the world was torn between global consumer culture, McWorld, and reactions against it, which he called Jihad, a term many Muslims and scholars criticized as misusing a religious word.

Edward Said criticized Huntington in 2001 in an essay called The Clash of Ignorance, arguing that civilizations are not unified blocs. Others pointed to hybridity, suggesting cultures mix rather than collide. These theories are tested by evidence and are useful for showing how big claims can be compared and critiqued.