Is the West history?
by Chris Chatteris SJ
Remember Mr Francis Fukuyama and his book The End of History and the Last Man? He thought that the West, with its liberal democracy and market economy, was the only future for humankind. That was back in 1992. How times can change. Today, there is talk of the end of Western dominance and the rise of a multipolar world. The dollar will decline; BRICS+ is the way of the future.
According to the British-Russian political philosopher Vlad Vexler, Putin and his inner circle believe in the inevitability of Western decline – the end of Western history. A mirror image of Fukuyama’s theory, ironically.
Apart from Kremlin political millenarianism, as I write, there’s some quite dramatic evidence for this proposed decline. Anti-immigrant riots are wracking the United Kingdom. The Labour Party won back the political centre, but even in the centre, immigration has emerged as a neuralgic issue.
When a society experiences a substantial and sustained inflow of foreign immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, the natives become restive. This is as true in South Africa as it is in Europe. Nor is it entirely irrational—ask the Palestinians, the Native Americans, or Aboriginal Australians. Historical examples show a population’s loss of control of its land and way of life thanks to mass migrations.
In the United States of America, the immigration question is also a destabilising one. This may seem ironic in a state built on immigration. The word ‘nativist’ as referred to white Americans is frankly weird, but in fact, it doesn’t take long for the descendants of immigrants to become hostile to further immigration. The immigrants arriving in the US from Latin America have an economic and cultural impact. They have provided a cheap labour force for the US economy, which is why they are tolerated. Still, they have effectively made the United States a bilingual country, something which many monolingual Trump supporters resent.
If the West is in decline, it is actually a victim of its own economic success. People aspire to settle in Western countries for economic reasons. The freedom is also appreciated, but often for its economic advantages. Many immigrants are entrepreneurs and, therefore, value the freedom to seek work anywhere and start businesses. One of the complaints of Zimbabweans about their own country is that it’s very hard to start a business without the sanction of the Party.
Apart from the politically destabilising effect of immigration, which is perceived as uncontrolled, there are clearly other problems in Western society. Some commentators point to the obscene levels of inequality in the US. There is serious political polarisation on so-called ‘cultural issues’. Others suggest that public institutions in Western countries have lost the populace’s trust thanks to scandals, corruption and their general opacity. We South Africans are not alone, apparently!
So, is the West, understood as Europe and the United States, history? One would be as foolhardy as Mr Fukuyama to predict it confidently. It survived two world wars in the 20th century, and Europe has survived hundreds of other wars, famines and sundry catastrophes throughout its history. The US recovered from the Civil War as a single state. The West has always managed to bounce back, probably because of its natural and geographical advantages – a temperate climate, good agricultural land, plentiful water and long coastlines with deep ports – a godsend for that fundamental engine of economic activity – trade.
I suspect the inevitable decline narrative is premature.
