The United States, Europe and
the Majority World after September 11
Professor Paul Rogers and Dr. Scilla Elworthy, September 2001
The appalling 9/11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
came as a devastating shock to the United States and will have an impact
that is likely to be felt for decades. This paper seeks to identify
and draw out the contrasting worldviews that form the backdrop to these
tragic events. It traces the emergence of views that have shaped current
US international security policy, military posture and convictions concerning
the globalised free market. It then explores how the majority world
– 80% of the world's population that is not part of the North
Atlantic system – views the global environment, economic justice
and the US-led western consensus that we live in an era of pervasive
global progress.
9/11 brought this clash of paradigms into sharp focus. The paper explores
how the cycle of violence epitomised by the atrocities may be broken
in ways that relate both to the immediate situation and the longer term.
The conclusion focuses on the potential role of Europe, especially the
UK, in offering prospects for positive change.
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