ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the history of the political importance of religious affiliations in the modern world-system since the long sixteenth century. Political Islamists have identified the United States as the guiding evil force in the world, and have taken to attacking the United States openly and directly. The contemporary world political Left throws a skeptical eye, on religiously based 'fundamentalist' political movements. There are three fundamental changes in the world situation since the 1970s: the end of the Cold War; the collapse of the Old Left antisystemic movements; and stagnation in the world-economy which has led to profit-making primarily from financial speculation with a consequent sharp increase in the degree of polarization. There was a steady decline in the centrality of religious categories in the modern world-system from 1500 to circa 1970. The coming decades the religious 'fundamentalist' movements have passed their prime and are beginning to decline as central political forces in their countries.
