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The End of Ideology and the Rise of Religion: How Marxism and Other Secular Universalistic Ideologies Have Given Way to Religious Fundamentalism
The End of Ideology and the Rise of Religion How Marxism and Other Secular Universalistic Ideologies Have Given Way to Religious Fundamentalism Author:William D. Rubinstein The twentieth century was dominated by political ideologies such as Communism, Fascism, and radical Nationalism. In this wide-ranging new book, William D. Rubinstein argues that these secular universalistic ideologies have in the twenty-first century been replaced by often fundamentalist religiously-based movements. The impact and influence of t... more »hese new fundamentalist movements may prove to be as epoch making - and calamitous - to this century as their ideologically-driven predecessors were to the last century. Western Europe, including Britain, has proved the sole exception to the rise of this new religious politics. William D. Rubinstein argues that the significance of the desecularisation of politics outside of Western Europe has yet to be fully grasped by both policy makers and informed observers. The most obvious example of this process of desecularisation is found in the Islamic world. Nations like Iran and Turkey once had ruling elites which successfully introduced elements of Western secular liberalism into their countries. In Algeria and Libya Marxist-oriented governments pursued their own secular agendas. Today, in contrast, most of the popular movements in the Islamic world claim their authority from Islam. The same process of desecularisation is also found to greater or lesser extents in different cultural and religious milieus in the Americas, East Asia, Eastern Europe, India, and even in the Jewish world.« less