Srinagar, July 6 -- Capitalism, a uniquely Western concept and practice, wedded to democracy, was supposed to be the panacea to the world's 'ills'.

In combination, the 'capitalist nirvana' would usher in a world where the individual would reign supreme, his (her) needs supplanted by pleasures and desires, all determined by the market forces of supply and demand.

The 'equilibrium' ensuing from this schema would lead to 'a settled' and a 'global society'. All conflicts, cultural, identity, ideational, and so on, would dissipate and disappear into the vortex of market forces. The free movement of capital, people, and goods would complete the process and mark 'history's end'.

The attendant homogeneity of the world and ubiquity of consumpti...