The beginning of the 21st century is also the dawn of the first global society of states. The Seventy-Five Years' War of the 20th century (1914-89) marked the transition from the European society of states, extended throughout the world by European imperialism, to a new, global society of states. The world wars and the Cold War were, among other things, wars of secular political religion among fascism, communism and liberalism. The winner was liberalism -- broadly defined as the combination of representative institutions, constitutional government and market economics.
