World domination (sometimes world conquest, global domination, or colloquially taking over the world), in which a single political authority rules over all the inhabitants of planet Earth, has been attempted by several individuals and political systems throughout history, and remains a popular theme in fiction.

Religious ideologies advocating world domination

Proselytising religions such as most sects of Christianity and Islam are universalist, viewing it as their task to convert as many people as possible to their religion, without restrictions on national or ethnic origin (although certain sects of these religions, such as Quakers or the Druze are not). This spiritual domination (see, for example, Kingdom of Heaven) is usually seen by most people to be distinct from a temporal domination, but certain fringe groupings within these religions have an established goal of global theocracy.

Political ideologies advocating world domination

Similarly, some devoted adherents of many different ideologies, such as anarchism, democracy, communism (especially Trotskyism), Nazism, neoconservatism, social democracy, certain conceptions of capitalism, liberalism or libertarianism view their credo as the ideal form of societal organization, 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. By some standards the United States was triumphant, and in holding the global position of super-power can perhaps be seen as having achieved world domination although only over a single decaying foe just through pure endurance.

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.

Arnold Toynbee's concept of a universal state

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 and Han dynasties as well as the Tang of China were also successful in conquering the known world of Chinese civilization. Historian Arnold Toynbee used the term Universal State to refer to an empire like the Roman Empire or Chinese Empire that conquered the entire world known to a particular civilization. 1.