INTRODUCTION

• Evolution of man from animal stage: Driven by competitions and struggle for survival conditioned by natural circumstances, resources and presence of predators around and availability of easy preys.
• Power of innovation gives human beings advantage over other animals.
• Human races evolved in different environments have different capacities of adaptability to circumstances and organize community behaviour, They adjust to the environment in order to enhance chances of success against their competitors.
• The community behaviour is forged under supervision of ideas and principles of conducts, which are accepted by the members. The deviants may be excluded from the community, who may, in turn, build and organize a separate society under the supervision of different ideas and principles. Thus social differentiation may mushroom.
• Groups with varied ideas and social codes, may compete. The group, who is more equipped with ideas, innovations and social conducts that can secure more success of survival and chance of cohesion into greater units without giving rise to internal wars and conflicts, become dominant in the society.
• Several dominant groups may form societies. They may pop up in different geographical areas. These societies, when they come in closer contacts with each other, may find common grounds to cooperate and forge alliances, or develop conflicts of interests and wage wars against each other. The societies, which possess greater military means and strategies to overrun the enemies, become the rulers over the rest. Under powerful rulers, the social differences among competing groups may get ironed out and absorbed into a state power. As long as the rulers can assure guarantee of basic needs and security of upbringing  of the progenies in a peaceful atmosphere, people tend to live with the way such state implement power.
• When the basis of security of life of people may break down due to natural calamities, or misappropriation of power by the rulers, or intervention of power by alien state, or increased conflicts between the aspirations of the rising class and the ruler, great changes may take place. A new social-order may emerge.

GOVERNANCE AND INSTITUTIONS

• Societies are governed by formation of institutions.
• Cultural institutions disseminate information of ideas, values and codes of conduct on which social fabric holds together . Culture may coerce people to follow tradition and norm. Religious institution, and institutions spreading ideas about the origin of man and his destiny are the main pillars of traditional culture.
• Educational institutions inform the population about the knowledge necessary for maintaining economic production, and running the institutions which are the backbones of the society. Education may also indoctrinates people in ideas and thoughts so that peoples` behaviours may comply with the ideologies of the rulers.
• Economic institution prescribes the rights of the individuals or groups to resources and utilization of the means and methods to exploit the resources under rules of ownership. They decide the methods of distribution and exploitations of resources fitting with the interests of the dominating classes in the society.
• Judicial institution oversees the adherence to laws, promulgated in the society, and holds the law-breaking elements in control. They also oversee the functioning of the bodies which may provide securities to people as prescribed by laws.
• Military institution protects the resources, culture and institutions of a society against an outside attack and disruption by violence and armed force. They also may be used to occupy others` territories in order to secure a more expanded ground of security for one`s own people. More power hungry nations may use their military might to further their interests and hegemony in the world.
• News and entertainment industry inform, indoctrinate and entertain the people with a aim of building a social cohesion among people and creating support behind the institutions which run the state.
• On the top lies a political institution which is responsible for promulgating laws, rights and economic, educational and cultural policies of the society. This political institution is run by the people who rule.

RULERS

• Those groups of people, who can master most power in controlling and manipulating the mass, become the rulers. The rulers need to defeat the other groups who may also be striving to gain opportunities to govern.
• The rulers may come to power by using brutal force - like military dictatorship for example.
• Or through  violent competitions among powerful groups representing different interests.
• Or through non-violent competitions among powerful groups by means of alliances and tactical manoeuvring.
• Or by choice of the majority of the population, who may elect their rulers who would defend the interests of the majority.
• Or by the choice of the enlightened elites, who may be able to take care of the interest of higher evolution of mankind as the goal of governing the society.

HOW THE WORLD HAS BEEN RULED SO FAR

• In majority of countries monarchs had ruled by making alliances with the other rising classes. In earlier time they made mostly alliances with priesthood; then with the rising mercantile class and afterwards with industrialists and bankers.
• Many countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa had  been ruled by Imperial colonial powers from the West who entered these continents first as merchants and then occupied them.
• Rise of industries and banking and the widespread colonial rules across the world changed the modes of production and consumption, which inspired the rise of the educated middle class who led struggles against traditional powers and gave birth to ideologies which brought industrial workers (in industrialized countries) and peasants in Asia and Latin America to political power.
• Battles for markets and competitions combined with the rising unrest of the workers and peasant brought the collapse of the traditional ruling classes and gave rise to so-called democratic reforms.
• Democracies were introduced in newly freed colonies of the West, where all adults were allowed to vote in selecting the candidates who would govern the countries.
• Parties representing different economic interests and social ideologies (like ownership rights and political rights for example) rose to exploit the opportunities to rise to power through electoral means.
• In countries where the rising class failed to come to power by using democratic processes, authoritarianism returned with the help of the military.
• While in newly born democracies religious and ideological fanaticism became important forces in the contest for power, religious values gave way to values of market capitalism in the industrialized West.
• With technological revolution of radio and TV broadcasting, which were used for propaganda and as means of manipulation by parties having access to these technologies, indoctrination in the values promoted by the rulers started invading all homes in all corners of the world.
• As information sharing between nations took place, source of information got further extended outside the countries in a global arena. With it local cultures, values and ideologies faced challenges. Global propaganda for supremacy of values based on financial success and accumulation of military power and wealth started. Democracies took the form of a market manipulated game of the rich and the powerful.
• With globalisation, global financial conglomerates formed, who controlled much of the investments and capital flow in the  market. The democracies functioned as corollaries of a gigantic monetary machine churning out profits in the hands of a few in the world. These global market actors became the class by themselves spread over geographical regions. This development threatened the interests of the the local actors in respective countries.
• The globalisation, which opened opportunities for accessing cheap labours, lower material costs and inexpensive services across the globe, opened the door for influx of workers looking for economic opportunities in better economies in the West. Intense economic competitions between the rising economies of the East and the capitalist countries in the West inspired ideas of multicultural integration as measures of the liberal economic policies.
• In some countries in Asia and Latin America democracy was clamped down in order to halt the march of the global capitalists and instead strengthen the markets of their own. In Arab world a chaos broke out when western countries attempted to bring authoritarian systems under the umbrella of their liberal democracies. Russia rose to resist the monopoly of the western democracies attempting to capture the global market and thus become an uncontestable “mono-polar” power.
• Fake news, hacking into each others database of information that are vital to economic competitiveness of the other countries, as well as surveillance of people across the globe started.
• Some took to violence as a way to answer the challenges they faced against militarily and financially superior adversaries. Terrorism became parts of political life in several places. Experiments with “spring of democracy” resulted in armed conflicts which displaced millions of people, who fled to the West and created a humanitarian crisis in the world. Chaos and totalitarian rule by one side, or the other, became the final results of experiment of democracy in the Middle East.
•  In facing an influx of displaced people fleeing violence and authoritarian rulers and the economic migrants moving in search of better economic opportunities, the traditional societies in the western countries faced tensions to maintain their cultural supremacy. Nationalist politicians became apprehensive of the danger of the globalisation and the global conglomerates taking over the economic game in the world.
• Democracies in the western countries showed trends of xenophobia against the migrants and the refugees and the multicultural integration promoted by the libertarians of the west.
• New administration of the US under President Trump developed authoritarian trend and led the US to protectionism, and decreed anti-migration and anti-refugee policies. It happened when the other two major players in the world (China and Russia) turned increasingly undemocratic and antagonistic to the policies of the US.

ROLES OF THE UN

• Since the UN was formed, it has acted as an organization to ensure measures to stop the world from sliding into catastrophic war once again, and sought to provide economic development programs to the poorer countries of the world so that majority of people, who are poor in the world, could come out of hunger, poverty and insecurities of living. It has also made basic education, and eradication of global threats to health due to outbreak of diseases and epidemics its major goals.
• It has inspired the growth of democracies in the world by adopting human rights Declarations on Civil and Political rights. By adopting the Declaration of Economic , Social and Cultural Rights it has  taken measures in guarantying rights to economic development of all people and securing freedom of all to pursue beliefs, faiths and culture of one`s own choice.
• The UN charter declares all people as equal and acknowledges that all possess the same rights to security of life, enjoyment of dignity and respect and protections against man made and natural catastrophes.
• It has built legal mechanisms to protect people from torture, violence and inhuman treatment.
• It has inspired the mushrooming of civil societies across the world, who works on ensuring the fulfilment of the rights in the local and the regional levels. Apart from the social and political rights, the rights of children, and women have received the main priorities of the UN.
• The UN has become an organization where developing countries seek assistance for their development programs - among others, in building viable judiciary systems which can guard and protect rules of law.
• Thus UN has set up universal values which all nations and people should abide by and promote in order to build a just and peaceful world.
• UN observers have taken peace keeping missions too.

GLOBALISATION VERSUS PROTECTIONISM

When, as result of globalisation, the economic power and control of resources over the globe is getting out of the hands of the people in individual countries, who have controlled the world before, nationalism and protectionism is rising as political forces in several western countries. While globalisation is offering the rising economies of the world the opportunities to enjoy a better market share of the global economic developments, the protectionists are hunkering after unfair economic advantages they have enjoyed in the history of the past since the colonial time.

MULTICULTURALISM VERSUS RACISM

Parallel to globalisation, multiculturalism is on the rise in the world. As people from different races, cultures and beliefs are moving across the national boundaries as results of development of an integrated global market and increased economic opportunities in the West, the traditional cultures within national boundaries are facing challenges to adopt to the new cultural affront by the immigrants. The politics of nations, which were once dominated by a particular race, culture are now facing onslaughts from people from other cultures and races. It is bringing those, who believe in the supremacy of their race and culture, to act against the development of multiculturalism.

CULTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

While these changes are taking place, the world is entering a new Digital Age of information, where exchange of information, outside the standard news channels existing in different countries, are becoming more and more important. Social media are spreading news, carrying information unpolluted by political  characters of the established media, at a much faster  rate across the globe. People are receiving  and spreading information freely without being subjected to manipulation of the powerful economic and political forces. Social media is becoming a source of “peoples`power” with the disadvantage that the truth of the news, flowing in the social media, can not be verified by anyone. In this situation people talk about the rise of the Age of “Fake News”: One believes in what one chooses to believe, and propagates information which fits one`s own agenda, values and  personal interests.

ANARCHISM VERSUS ENLIGHTENMENT

Anarchism can take different forms. While the world, on one side, is being informed more and more by individual news-channels based on personal ideologies, on the other side, the global market is succumbing to the economic weight of a few global actors dominating a free world of consumption. These developments hint at the rise of a new form of anarchism, where faith in state and politician are dwindling substantially. The erosion of traditional values, and replacement of spiritual values by market values, also indicates a fundamental change occurring in the global culture.

The state control by institutions and manipulated information, which seek to channel politics towards nationalism, will certainly not appeal to the political appetite of the informed and educated younger generation growing up in the Digital Age. Thus the world seems to be moving towards a revolutionary transition in the near future.

More the robots are replacing the human activities, and automations are isolating human beings from other fellow human beings, with whom they may like to exchange emotions and warmth, more the younger generation is becoming apprehensive of the need of a spiritual life. More the social media is pushing them to expose their life to the market culture, more they are sinking in the inner self in search of meaning and values outside a meaningless consumer world.

A new class, which did not exist in history before, is rising to lead this revolutionary changes. They are appearing as the new spiritual force of the Digital Age. I believe their spirituality will usher in a new age of enlightenment on Earth in the near future.

MY VISION OF THE ENLIGHTENED AGE

Here I describe my vision of such an Enlightened Age: What would be the foundation of such “Age of Enlightenment”? What new visions and values would emerge from the present state of the world where we are? How the new social order, which will govern all people of the world as ONE, may look like? What do I see in my dream?

NEXT: MY VISION

NATURE ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT

PRESENT ORDER

A quick summary of forces in politics and its history and a vision for the future (bullet points only)