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

by Bill Emmott

Today countries rich or poor, big or small, have many more choices and more freedom of action than they did in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, say. They do not want to be bossed about by the West, or to be dependent on it for anything. They are perfectly able to play one great power off against another. They want respect and autonomy. They do not want to feel let down by it, as Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries have in the case of the demise of President Obama’s “Trans-Pacific Partnership” effort to set trade and investment rules in the region. They fear, understandably, that such American inconstancy will hand the initiative to China to set its own rules for the region – but they will likely continue to resist Chinese rule-setting rather than actively embrace it. For if polled under some duress to give an honest answer, far and away the vast majority of countries around the world would say that if they had to choose sides, they would choose the Western one against virtually whoever was on the other side, unless to do so would put them in mortal danger. Why? Not because they love the West. Many have plenty of reasons, especially historical ones, to hate it or at least be suspicious of it.