Postmodernism based on the transcending of formal or supposed equality of the enlightenment is today reflected not only in religious fundamentalism, particularly of the Islamic type, but also in the new radical democracies, such as that of Venezuela in Latin America.

There is a religious connection also with these new radical democracies, since one of their formative influences is the Christian liberation theology.

But in a concrete way, how can these new radical democracies contribute to the strengthening of society? In my view even in those countries with a preponderance of religious fundamentalists there are elements which are willing to embark on the road of reform, if foreign forces do not continue to threaten them militarily; but this is another subject.

The principal reform brought about by this change of paradigm from essentialist modernism to non-essentialist postmodernism is the decentralisation of the powers of the nation-state. In the modernist system everything is centralised as much as possible, as a consequence of the egalitarian dogma of equality in everything.

This type of government, in order to operate successfully, requires the intervention of the bureaucracy. Now with the passing of time what happens is that the original purpose for which the bureaucracy was created – namely that the people enjoy more rights – is forgotten, and the bureaucracy acquires a life of its own. This applies not only to government but also to other institutions, such as political parties and trade unions. Now with the decentralisation of the nation-state, power is devolved from the capital to the regions and from the bureaucracy to the communities.

The decentralisation of the nation-state has to be primarily social: To terminate the reduction to a sole model of society – namely the Victorian eurocentric one. In this type of society millions feel lost; and as a consequence fall prey to addiction of drugs, gambling or alcohol, with the social-breakup which can be seen around us.

It is difficult for the postmodern reform of decentralisation to be implemented; since while devolving power to the regions and the communities, one must ensure that the way is not opened to anti-social forces, that throw back society to barbarism. Such an outcome would be a step backward rather than a surge forward. In order to prevent such a retrograde course – in a secular society such as ours – the central state has to continue exercising a guiding force. This can best be done by the representatives of the people – on the advice of a corps of educators and others forming the academies of the arts and the sciences. The reason for such an action has to be unifying and formative, without jeopardising the development of the individual citizen.

So it may be said that while modernism or neoliberalism is leading towards one globalised state, postmodernism sees to the strengthening of the existing nation-states with this reform of decentralisation.

What is being suggested with this political and social decentralisation is that the state divests itself of powers, primarily in the social field and passes them to the regions and communities by means of local government and entities of civil society, such as NGOs, trade unions and others including new social movements.

However, for reasons already stated this radical reform requires that the nation-state does not abdicate of all its powers, but continues to exercise a guiding or supervisory role based more on a practical and intellectual bent than a bureaucratic one.

This argument would not be complete if we do not touch on the economic field. In this regard the element of greatest preoccupation is climate change and the environmental damage resulting from uncontrolled development by large multinational corporations. A clear example of this is the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where a rig which was extracting oil from a deep water well sank, and it took about three months to stop the oil from flowing from the fractured well in to the sea. Here the postmodernist answer is that the first step that is to be taken is that an international agreement has to be concluded as early as possible, to regulate the operations of multi-national capital on air, land and sea resources, by putting in place the requisite controls in order to ensure that civilisation as we know it may continue.

Mario Mifsud

Hamrun