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World domination (disambiguation)

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For other uses, see World Domination Recordings.

World domination, global domination, global conquest, taking over the world, or world conquest, is an ambitious goal in which one government, one ideology or belief system, or even one person, seeks to secure complete political or military control of the entire planet. It can be considered the extreme form of global hegemony.

Though it is debatable if a planet as complex and diverse as Earth could ever be successfully "dominated" by a single central authority in this way, the concept of global domination has long been a popular theme in both history and fiction.

Throughout history

Ideologies

Many proselytising religions such as Islam and Christianity are universalist, viewing it as their task to convert as many people as possible to their religion, without restrictions on national or ethnic origin. This spiritual domination (see, for example, Kingdom of Heaven) is usually by most people seen to be distinct from a temporal domination, but certain fringe groupings within these religions have an established goal of global theocracy.

Similarly, some devoted adherents of many different ideologies, such as anarchism, democracy, communism (especially Trotskyism), neoconservatism, social democracy, liberalism or libertarianism view their credo as the ideal form of societal organisation, and actively encourage its implementation throughout the world. The period of the Cold War in particular was seen as a period of intense ideological polarization across the globe, with supporters of the two rival camps expressing hope that their ideology would emerge triumphant over the other and become the pre-eminent form of government worldwide. Elements within the allied blocs led by the Soviet Union and the United States accused each other of having objectives of global domination.

After the end of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union's collapse, Francis Fukuyama in The End of History predicted that liberal democracy would become the favoured form of government throughout the earth. This period was called by some the new world order.

Regimes

Before modern times, the reach of political control and military force was limited by rudimentary transportation technologies and knowledge of geography. The Roman Empire had goals of global domination, and indeed the empire was able to conquer most of the "known world" (i.e., the Mediterranean) throughout its long history. The Qin as well as the Han dynasty of China were also successful in conquering the known world. Others who succeeded in conquering large portions of the "known world" include Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Throughout history there have been many secret shadow societies and brotherhoods dedicated — at least in literature and apocryphy — to taking over the world or are supposed to have already done so: the Illuminati, the Templars, etc.[citation needed]

French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had sights on global domination, and is often thought of as being the quintessential global conqueror.[citation needed]

The British Empire came closest to achieving global domination, at least in demographic and geographical terms, gaining direct political control of about two fifths of the world's population and about one quarter of its land area, and hegemony over nominally independent areas such as parts of China and South America. The Empire is generally considered to have arisen as a result of Britain's trade objectives rather than an attempt to establish military dominion, however, and was dismantled after World War II without substantial bloodshed.

The nations closest to world domination in territorial terms were both the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal when they were merged in 1580 (They separated in 1640) during the reign of Philip II. The Portuguese-Spanish Empire covered almost all South and Central America, as well as a large area of southern North America, almost all African maritime territories and other important regions such as The Philippines, Holland (independent in 1588), and a significant portion of the Italian peninsula.

File:World October revolution poster.jpg
An early Soviet poster: "Long Live World October [revolution]! The workers conquered power in Russia and will conquer the entire world"

Since the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks envisioned their regime as the first step to Communism dominating the world. The Comintern was established in 1919 in order to encourage Communist parties across the world and promote international proletarian revolution.

In World War II, the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler had ambitious plans for directly controlling all of Europe, and then obtaining a position of power that would make them a formidable superpower in global politics.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, critics of American foreign policy have argued that the United States seeks, or indeed actually has, global hegemony. Ironically, some calls to unite anti-globalization movements around the globe may be also seen as utopian attempts to take over the world from corporate powers. There also currently exists an organisation called Project for the New American Century (whose membership includes a number of prominent individuals within the Bush administration) that seeks global leadership for the United States as its main goal.

  • Global domination is frequently used in some science fiction stories (e.g., Star Trek) as a desirable, praiseworthy, and inevitable step in the progress of human civilization (though in this case it is achieved by co-operation, not conquest). Others treat it as the sinister ambition of the story's villain. This in turn is often a source of parody, frequently in cartoons such as Pinky and the Brain in which a super-intelligent lab mouse and his dim-witted cohort pursue elaborate schemes to take over the world that inevitably end in failure. The cartoon's famous catchphrase is: "Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?" "Same thing we do every night, Pinky: Try to take over the world!"
  • Linus Torvalds, developer of Linux, has also semi-seriously described his goals as "world domination, fast." Because of the ubiquity of Microsoft products in the computing world, company founder Bill Gates has been parodied as seeking world domination.
  • World domination is often perceived to be the most common plot line in the James Bond movie series. However, in actuality, the villain is much more likely to demand ransom money than seek global hegemony, something that has happened only three times. In Dr. No, the famous spy is already weary of foes who seek to dominate the globe and calls it "the same old dream".
  • The board game Risk is often labelled as the "world domination game" or the "game of global conquest".
  • A great many video games, often in the strategy genre, have a goal of global domination - for example, Global Domination, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the Civilization series, Rise of Nations, the SuperPower series of games and, to a lesser extent, the Command & Conquer series. In addition, games such as Day of the Tentacle and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders feature plots of foiling attempts of global domination.
  • Pinky and the Brain are always planning to take over the world
  • Stewie Griffin from the cartoon "Family Guy" has fanciful dreams of taking over the world.
  • Evil Genius A game developed by Sierra Entertainment in which the player must buy an island and play the role of an evil genius, who has plans (through crime) to take over the world.

See also

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