The Retreat of Western Liberalism

by Edward Luce

When people lose faith in the future they are less likely to invest in the present.

‘economic growth has become the secular religion of advancing industrial societies’.

capitalism works best in societies where there are high levels of trust between its participants. When social trust falls, the cost of doing business rises.

If the democratically backed will of the world’s largest trading bloc can be undone by a group of unelected trade judges, imagine the odds for anyone else.

Fascism is based on group rights. Liberal democracy is founded on individual rights.

Western populism is an ‘illiberal democratic response to undemocratic liberalism

Trust is the glue of a successful free society; fear is the currency of the autocrat.

Depending on the society, most of the West is moving either towards populism or plutocracy.