The Principle of the New World Order

Abstract

The First World War created no other principles for world formation than an abstract notion of national self-determination. Such an abstract notion could not solve the historical challenges the world faced, of which the outbreak of the Second World War provided evidence. Each state/nation must realize its world-historical mission to construct the world-historical world in which states/nations would be united to form ‘a global world (sekai-teki sekai)’ while maintaining their own historical uniqueness. For such historically unique entities to be united into the whole without losing their uniqueness, it would be necessary an intermediate process of forming ‘a particular world (tokushu- teki sekai)’. In this process, each state/nation transcends itself, connects to neighboring states/nations, and follows its own regional (supra-national) tradition at the same time, leading to the establishment of non-Western worlds. East Asian nations must realize their world-historical mission and construct a particular world based on the idea of East Asian culture. There must be a central player to tackle such challenges and no country but Japan would be in the position to play such a role.