Comment

But that was during a time when there was no “war on terror.” Whether one likes it or not, the thesis by Huntington has many strands of truth. There are three major strands of development, which are collinear with the economic crisis and the three have to be seen together rather than as distinct entities.

The economic downturn, demographic catastrophe — what can be called Age Bomb — and clash of civilisations are interlinked, and that is the uniqueness of the current crisis. The Age Bomb is going to work against White Europe and Israel and in favour of Islamic majority in Africa and the Middle East.

The developments in Swat province in Pakistan are ominous with the control of large areas by Taliban who are imposing their ideas of governance like closing down girl’s schools, banning music and hanging the non-believers. The Afghanistan-Pakistan theatre of war will involve American and European forces for many years, maybe decades.

On the European side, we find that England is the Terror Central with almost all terrorist organisations of the world having headquarters in that country — be it ETA rebels or Chechen or LTTE or LeT or Khalistanis or Mirpuri groups. Already, UK claims to monitor nearly 4,000 groups/individuals for terror related concerns.

This number will only go up. Actually, if you join the dots of terror acts in any part of the world, you will find Pakistan on one side and the UK on the other in terms of planning and plotting the same. The West needs to fight its war on terror maybe over several decades.

In that context, the growth rates of India and China are like dream rates. Both have a huge domestic market and both have ancient civilisations favouring families and trust. It is imperative that civilisations such as India (12th largest economy), China (third largest) and Japan (second largest) should come together to set up a new world order which is non-Abrahamic in nature and which is focused on conflict avoidance and conflict resolution when the clash of civilisation is taking place among the others.

The Indian, Chinese and Japanese civilisations do not have words like jihad or crusade or heathen or kafir or pagans, which are used to essentially communicate a world view of “My way or highway.”

The economic axis has shifted to Asia and it is important that Asia seizes the initiative to steer the world towards a new economic order based on family values, savings and inter-temporal equity. The new economic architecture should be evolved in New Delhi, Tokyo and Beijing.

The writer is professor of finance and control, Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore. Views are personal.