A richer and more equal world is a more complicated one, but that price is well worth paying. Europe gave up its aspirations for empire during the decades immediately after 1945, and Japan had abandoned such aspirations in the rubble of defeat. What is special, rather, about this decade is the internal weakness of Western countries, which is leading to divisions within and between those countries, and fostering as on previous occasions the rise of purveyors of simpler solutions, based on identity, nationalism and strong leadership – top-down solutions that involve making open societies more
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