The article proposes to supplement the world-system methodology with the ideas about the central role of ontological beliefs for the formation of a unified civilizational space of world systems in general and the space of Western civilization in particular. Global transformations, which are happening, today can be described (using Heideggerian terminology) as a change of the «time of World Picture» by the «time of the Construction of the World». This transformation is accompanied by a change in the entire landscape of social practices and legitimations, including religious, political, economic, technological, etc., aspects of reality. Within the framework of this approach, the features of the American civilization project are analyzed, and the changes in the rhetoric of American politicians after November 9, 2001 (increasingly saturated with religious symbols and allusions) point to the beginning of a new stage of globalization. Considering the power of the first economy of the world, the American alternative should be considered as the main threat to European democracy.
reality; global project; American exceptionality; religiosity; human rights.