HISTORICAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON THE EMPIRES AND CIVILIZATIONS: THEORETICAL APPROACHES AND CONCEPTS

Abstract

The article analyses the system of international relations in the context of transformation of a unipolar world order, led by the United States, into a multipolar system. The globalization process actualized the problem of dialogue among cultures and civilizations as well as clash of civilizations. Questions of the correlation between the concepts of empire and local civilization remain somewhat debatable. Diverse types of empires have emerged as important political players over a prolonged period of time from modern to postmodern. Traditional empires with their economic, spiritual and cultural environment became history. The question remains about the relationship between globalization and intellectual imperialism. This recognised that the key issue is the introduction of information technologies and the globalization in cyberspace.

Theories of globalization claim to be able to explain all the major changes occurring in today’s world. Hence, there are a host of competing interpretations of the new global society, due to which the idea of globalization has remained vague and failed to go beyond the general concepts of global imperia or global civilization. The materialist conception of history regards material production and people’s transforming activity as the basis of history, thereby shedding light on the objective laws of the development of human society, along with the sources and driving forces behind the history of the world. Globalization is defined as the integration of productive forces of humanity on a global scale, which constitutes the material basis for its worldwide unity, the unity of its history and societal development. Such consolidation becomes possible only after and due to the global expansion of modern capitalism.

Martynov, A. (2019). Historical Comparative Research on the Empires and Civilizations: Theoretical Approaches and Concepts. Mìžnarodnì zv’âzki Ukraïni: naukovì pošuki ì znahìdki – The International relations of Ukraine: scientific searches and findings, 28, 299-316 [in Ukrainian].