The clash of the “World” and the “West” as a new reality

Abstract

The article considers the historical consequences of the theses formulated by A. Toynbee in 1953 in his book "The World and the West", in which he expressed deep concern about the future of Western civilisation. According to Toynbee, the reverse effect of the unification of the world was the transformation of Western civilisation into a local civilisation along with others, while the new global world strives for a real balance of cultures and civilisations. The article points out that the main argument of the new state of the world is the "argument of numbers", as the majority of humanity is in the non-Western regions of the world, therefore its unifying centre is moving to the Eurasian space, represented by China and Russia, among others. The article also revises the colonial paradigm of opposing "civilisation" to "barbarism" and the practice of "civilisation mission", which in modern theory has been replaced by the concept of "civilisation standard". Based on Toynbee's concept, the ways out of the current situation in the conditions of "Revolt against the West 2.0" are analysed.