The conflicts of recent centuries have been dominated by the West. Both world wars and the Cold War that followed were dominated by Western states and ideals. It is postulated that as the USSR collapsed and the Cold War ended, Western conflict subsided and allowed the conflicts of other nations and factions to take over. As the bipolar world system became unipolar, other problems emerged or gained importance, economics seeped back into the global economy, technology advanced at a rapid pace, completely changing the way wars are fought and America has pursued its goal of democratization. America has become the dominant superpower. in 1989, when the world was moving towards a unipolar system; thus changing the country's foreign policy. Instead of fighting the “evil empire” (Reagan: 1983), foreign policy shifted to protecting international stability and leading a global movement for democracy. This policy has presented figures, perhaps rightly so, like those of modern-day Hitler. Saddam Hussein, Colonel Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak witnessed this treatment, even claiming to form a “new world order” (Carpenter: 1991: 24). The United States has become the world police. This has angered many Arab states as the United States attempts to impose democracy on countries with mixed results; Grenada and Panama succeeded, while Lebanon and Iraq proved costly, in terms of money and human lives, and failed to establish effective democracy. Lebanon experienced 250 American casualties, while Iraq recorded 4,483. (iCasualties.org: 2011) This shift in the conflict was brought about by the almost worldwide acceptance of democracy and the absence of a significant opponent to challenge the United States. China may be where the world seeks to compete with the United States, but...... middle of paper ......Order (2002)7. B Gokay and RBJ Walker (eds.), September 11, 2001: War, Terror and Judgment (2002)8. Ronald Reagan, “Evil Empire Speech,” March 9, 1983. http://www.nationalcenter.org/ReaganEvilEmpire1983.html9. Icasulties details losses during the Iraq War. http://icasualties.org/iraq/index.aspx, 07.12.201110. Geohive, a website, 2011, which gives an estimate of the world population. http://www.geohive.com/11. Google Public Date Explorer, 2011, provides information on various economic statistics on world states http://www.google.co.uk/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:CHN&dl=en&hl=en&q=china +gdp# ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=country&idim=country:CHN:USA:GBR&ifdim=country&hl=en&dl=en12. M. Van Creveld (1991) On Future War. London: Brassey's.