What Multipolar World After the End of European Hegemony? Enrique Dussel's Theory of Transmodernity From a European Perspective

Abstract

With the theory of transmodernity, Dussel outlines the vision of a multipolar world in which the era of European global hegemony, which arose with the conquest of America in 1492, is overcome and the cultures of the Global South are equal members of a new global order. In recent decades, however, new regional centres of power have emerged in China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia, which more or less radically pursue an anti-Western policy. This means that we already live in a multipolar world, as some postcolonial thinkers now openly admit. However, according to Dussel, transmodernity is not an anti-European project, but rather the emancipatory achievements of European modernity (in the sense of Hegel's Aufhebung) are to be subsumed in transmodernity. In his political ethics, Dussel has presented a critical reinterpretation of human rights and democracy under the heading of a "popular politics". The doctrine of international law, however, is suspected of colonialism, as his critique of Francisco de Vitoria demonstrates. Since the new regional powers are now themselves pursuing an imperial policy, all states, including left-wing post-colonial regimes, are now faced with the choice between a policy of imperial spheres of influence or - this would be the consequence of Dussel's transmodernity - a further critical development of international law.