Post-West Syndrome

WRITING in The National Interest more than two years ago, Professor James Kurth stated: “The real clash of civilizations will not be between the West and one or more of the Rest. It will be between the West and the Post-West, within the West itself. This clash has already taken place within the brain of Western civilization, the American intellectual class.”

An examination of what many in our intellectual class have been saying for the past several years corroborates this assertion. There is a Post-West, and it advocates transcending and redefining traditional Western ideas of patriotism and the nation-state. But historical evidence suggests that patriotism and the nation-state are necessary conditions for the survival of modern constitutional democracy. If we accept the Post-Western vision, traditional liberal democracy will ultimately be transformed into a post-liberal-democratic regime.

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John Fonte

John Fonte is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for American Common Culture at the Hudson Institute.

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WRITING in The National Interest more than two years ago, Professor James Kurth stated: “The real clash of civilizations will not be between the West and one or more of the Rest. It will be between the West and the Post-West, within the West itself. This clash has already taken place within the brain of Western civilization, the American intellectual class.”

An examination of what many in our intellectual class have been saying for the past several years corroborates this assertion. There is a Post-West, and it advocates transcending and redefining traditional Western ideas of patriotism and the nation-state. But historical evidence suggests that patriotism and the nation-state are necessary conditions for the survival of modern constitutional democracy. If we accept the Post-Western vision, traditional liberal democracy will ultimately be transformed into a post-liberal-democratic regime.