Not often, perhaps every half-century or so, a political idea will punch through that forces people to sit and listen. Marxism achieved this at the beginning of the 20th century and stayed almost until the end, ultimately failing because it could not deliver. Nazism fared less well because the prizes it offered came only with war and at the most terrible cost to others. A similar epitaph will eventually be written for al-Qaeda. ADVERTISEMENT <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://ads.ft.com/event.ng/Type=click&FlightID=41153&AdID=57330&TargetID=20511&Segments=3099,6198,6235,9122,9179,10158,11059,11694,14316,15545,16157,18316,18489,18876,18952,18962,19119,19182,19313,19724,20188,20750,20936,21052&Targets=3099,7972,15407,6224,21129,21516,18699,20096,20511,20714,21432,21685,21841&Values=30,51,63,77,83,94,102,150,165,239,249,253,494,547,559,575,600,639,645,931,1583,3614,4431,4548,4570,4646,4704,5633,6192,6380,6391,6396,6617,7684,8072,8177,8179,8427,8454&RawValues=&Redirect=http://www.ft.com/screensaver"><IMG SRC="http://www.image.ft.com/adimages/banner/marketingscreensavermpu.gif" WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 BORDER=0></A> But while international political focus has been largely on Islamic fundamentalism and Iraq, an alternative economic and political system...