Introduction On the Threshold of the Global Age

The introduction defines the problem the book is concerned with, outlines the idealism-realism framework that explains the tensions that led to the emergence of the globalization process, and identifies major themes of the book. The idealism-realism framework represents the dynamism that revolves around the transcendental idealism’s commitment to the basic monotheistic values of rational autonomy, moral responsibility, equal dignity, and transcendental law, and the opposition generated by the realist traditions that favor positivist law and power structure. The framework furnishes the underlying structure of the global convergence and conflict that characterizes all monotheistic societies throughout history and which is manifested today in the tension between egalitarian liberalism and hierarchical neoliberalism.