| Sumario: | The notion that the entire globe is emerging into a homogeneous, universally Western civilization, as some Westerners have expounded in recent years, is to varying degrees arrogant, false, misguided, and dangerous. This argument is based on the assumption that modern civilization is the equivalent of Western society. It is more common, however, for non-Western leaders to reject westernization when they are pursuing modernization. Economic development and modernization do not need or produce cultural westernization. Indeed, they encourage a resurgence of, and renewed commitment to, native cultures. The West must abandon the illusion of universality, relinquish its attempt to westernize other civilizations, and concentrate on preserving and renewing the unique traits of Western civilization within the West as simply one of many civilizations around the world.
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