Challenges for the Contemporary West

The essential, undeniable fact is that the West was the first civilization in history to focus attention on the individual and on freedom…we have committed crimes, but we have also caused the whole of mankind to take a gigantic step forward and to leave its childhood behind.

- Jacques Ellul The Betrayal of the West 1978

I. End of the Cold War

A. Détente and divisions

1. “Monolithic” Communism- Mao Zedong

2. Suez Crisis 1956

3. Test Ban / Proliferation Treaties

4. Nixon in Moscow / China 1972

Cold War as permanent condition

B. Unrest

1. Unruly East- Hungary 1956- “Prague Spring” 1968- Poland & Solidarity 1980s- Afghanistan

2. Economic woes- stagnation, not starvation

C. Neo-Conservatism 1980 - 1989

1. Reagan / Thatcher

- military strength

- hostility to “socialist” domestic programs- unabashed patriotism

D. Fall of the Soviet “Empire”

1. Mikhail GorbachevGlasnost = opennessPerestroika = economic / administrative reform

2. 1989 – Lifting the Iron Curtain- Hungary elections- “Velvet” Revolution in Czechoslovakia- Fall of the Berlin Wall

The end of the Cold War is “the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.”

The End of History and the Last Man

- Francis Fukuyama 1992

II. Dominance and Decline

A. The Wealth of Nations

1. “We will bury you!” – Kruschev Economic race - GATT

- consumerism- building a middle class- “cradle to grave” support

2. One Europe- European Union 1991

B. Postmodern mania

1. Baby boom / baby bust

2. Youth Culture- materialistic- politicization

3. Existentialism- fixed truths + pov- morality cannot exist outside of “agents”- feminism / sexual revolution

4. Identity politics

C. North-South Divide

1. Population / resources

2. New ideological conflict?- Islamic Nationalism

neo-colonialism / Israeli-Palestinian conflict

- “Islamists”

rejection of “secular” values

Gulf (Iraq) Wars