ABSTRACT
Times are changing. It has been 20 years since the USSR was dismantled. This extraordinary event heralded the triumph of liberal capitalism, which was in full swing in the wake of Reagan's and Thatcher's ultra-conservative counter-revolution. The US philosopher Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the end of history. The whole world was exhorted to adopt the political structures of Anglo-Saxon capitalism. Since the US was supposed to uphold the universal value of human rights, its global extension was expected to bring about what ancient Chinese thinkers called “all under heaven,” e.g. universal harmony.
