The fact that we must deal with the problems of the whole world today is a result of globalization. We must be aware of the fact that globalization is a globalization of our European spirit, our way of life, our technology, including the atomic bomb, our economy and society, and so we are responsible for what is happening worldwide. As a result of globalization, we cannot only observe a growing standard of living and a faster population growth due to improved health care and medicines, but we also have to complain about relative impoverishment, unemployment, economic crises, left-wing and right-wing extremism, religious wars and huge refugee flows. To the extent that the negative consequences of globalization affect the Western world, they lead to general uncertainty, which then manifests itself in a loss of confidence in political institutions. Even the greatest achievements of the post-war period, the overcoming of nationalism and the unification of Europe, are questioned and disproved, and salvation is sought in foreclosure and national autonomous regions. Their ray of hope is that Donald Trump would help countries leaving the EU. He only thinks of America and only recognizes strength. Of course, he is interested in the fact that the power factor of Europe is disintegrating. Since the European Trumps do not recognize the need for a strengthening of Europe, in order to be able to confront America and other great powers, they also prove to be political twits. The increasing dissatisfaction with the given circumstances is not unfounded. It is the result of an inadequate development of the economic and social theories and ideals and the policy determined by them. Disharmonies developed in this way. In order to understand economic development and globalization, we must analyze the underlying motivations. It will be shown that the driving forces and objectives of economic development and globalization are based on the special intellectual development of Europe, as it grew out of an antique and Jewish / Christian heritage. It may come as a surprise to the contemporary reader that we trace the discussion of the problems of globalization back to religion. But if one considers how far other religious denominations, especially Islam, determine the social ideals of Muslim countries and international politics, then it should really be possible to understand that Europeans should also refer to their intellectual heritage and the resulting behavior, especially in order to meet other religious demands and to understand their own position. Thus, it should be allowed, since Europeanism has as its roots in antiquity and, Christianity, to reflect on their essence. In the discussion of Europeanism, it must not be overlooked that it is divided into a western and an eastern component, both of which have been globalized. The leading countries for Western Europeanism were Great Britain and later the Anglo-Saxon world, dominated by the United States. The Eastern Europeanism is represented by the Eastern European countries, initially most notably by Poland, but then more and more by Russia with its expansion to the Black Sea and to Vladivostok. In order to understand current political problems, the essence of the East-West opposition and the position of Europe must therefore also be discussed. The lessons to be gained from this can help to understand the responsibility and task of Europe and, as the strongest economic power of Central Europe, of Germany in overcoming and mediating the East-West opposition. This results in an outline of this elaboration: A.Europeanism as the source of Globalization. B.Western and Eastern Europeanism as the origin of the East-West Opposition and their Globalization C.The crisis and the further development of Europeanism in the globalized world.
About the Author: Uwe Petersen born August 2.1932 in Rendsburg Germany, 1956 Di-ploma in Economics in Heidelberg, 1964 Doctor of Philosophy in Heidelberg (supervisor Hans-Georg Gadamer, co-supervisor Jürgen Habermas) with the thesis "The Relation of Theory and Practise in the Transcendental Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl". From 1965 in different economic groups and in the economic promotion and strategical management consultancy. Since 1998 he deals mainly with philosophy of action.