Based on the notion of productive power developed by Michael Barnett and Raymond Duvall, this article aims to explain why the concept of "civilization" is flexible enough to prevail as a modern regulative ambition in the context of redefinition of global boundaries. The main argument indicates that the flexibility of this concept is the result of a historically contingent necessity of spatiotemporal localization of difference to preserve the integrity of the self and its self-knowledge in relation to its own understanding of what objectivity must be. The dilemmas and contradictions in the fight against new threats are solved, and the disciplinary action on the Other is justified. The consolidation of the notions of progress and "good government" in the concept of "civilization" – opposed to "tyranny" in rogue states and "radicalism" of terrorist threats – resulted from the necessity to protect the cohesion of U.S. identity.
