After the Second World War, conditions emerged for a better world. The horrors of war, the staggering death toll and immeasurable material destruction, created a need for international order and the safeguarding of peace. States responded by founding the United Nations and setting rules of international conduct to tame the chaos unleashed by the power of arms.
Even so, the Cold War followed, along with a violent process of decolonization across much of the globe. The force of arms continued to shape the fate of millions and remained a grim reality for most peoples. Yet there was an international order, and war receded from entire regions. At least the West managed to experience the benefits of peace, stability, and security.
Within that stability and security, citizens of Western countries were able to press demands for a dignified life and claim their rights. Western democracies matured to the point of safeguarding the rights of various minority groups. The core promises of the Enlightenment -reason prevailing over irrationality, social progress, and human self-realization- seemed to be winning.
In this favorable environment, political leaders in the West did not face great difficulty articulating rational, public-facing arguments. Serious statesmen and women emerged, pushing societies toward a better future. The eccentric, the toxic, and the unreasonable had little place in Western political systems. The West functioned as a model even for states that would not admit it; those who strayed from this path risked international isolation.
Facing the new order
That was the political world until recently. It was no paradise, but outcomes were, to a large extent, predictable. Everything changed quickly, yet political life had its rhythms and was intelligible to most. Political values and ideologies provided boundaries and a way to read reality. Today, that world is slipping through our fingers. Everyone senses it, but most continue to analyze and debate the new political reality with yesterday’s vocabulary.
What held value yesterday no longer carries political weight. The criteria by which politicians made decisions in previous years no longer apply. The traditional public language and arguments of politics have far less resonance now. What is politically established today already feels outdated. Across the West there are signs of a new political era. A new world is taking shape - whether or not it satisfies us, whether or not we accept its logic. It is there, waiting for us to understand how it works. It will not ask our opinion, nor make concessions. It will impose itself and reshape the lives of entire societies.
