Читать книгу World Politics since 1989 - Jonathan Holslag - Страница 25

In sum, the question is not so much whether there has been progress in the post-Cold War period. The question is rather how we evaluate the degree of progress in spreading democracy, social dignity, security, and sustainable production in comparison to the spectacular high tide of economic globalization, the opportunity to exchange technology and ideas, and so forth. Progress optimists often magnify the positive trend by comparing everything with the growing world population. Compared with the growing world population, fewer people get killed. Compared with the growing world population, one can mitigate many trends. But if we really care about progress, it is fairer to ask whether we advanced enough in comparison with to the economic opportunities that were present than to ask whether we advanced in comparison with the number of people that live on the planet. From that perspective, many curves remained remarkably flat.