The Fate of the West: The Battle to Save the World’s Most Successful Political Idea

by Bill Emmott

Contrary to Trump’s starting assumptions, of the three barbarian issues that are thumping on the gates of the open societies, the most fundamental and long-term one is not the violent brutality of Islamic State and its sort, even if that is the one that most often forces its way through the gates and into our cities. Nor is it the bully-boy behaviour of Putin’s Russia, a Russia President Trump seems inclined to do deals with, if it helps resolve other sources of instability. These are both difficult pressures but they can be managed, or eventually dealt with, by traditional means. Much more problematic is the rise of China and, more particularly, of the demands for special treatment and respect that that rise is bringing. This is an epochal event and challenge, not a case of firefighting or even traditional deterrence. China will prove President Trump’s most awkward foe.