“Democracy is on the defensive”

Chiara SchlenzEditor News

A bloody war has been raging in Europe for almost ten months. China – according to the US the “biggest threat” – is expanding its power and in the course of the Ukraine war, the African continent is increasingly turning towards Russia and China. Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, recently said in a speech: “We are facing the most uncertain decade since the end of World War II.” The impression arises that the world as we know it is confused.

According to Peter R. Neumann (47), German political scientist, journalist and author of the book “The New World Disorder – How the West Destroys Itself”, the Kremlin boss could be right about this statement. In an interview with Blick, he also confirms: “The world is in a phase of disorder. In a phase of which historians will say: “That was the phase in which it was somehow clear that this system could no longer exist, but it was not yet clear what would follow.” after that, the end of the Cold War settled and dominated by the West – especially by the US – is under pressure, he says. But why?

Neumann explains: “This has to do with the fact that countries such as Russia are very dissatisfied with this system and have felt in recent decades that they have too little interest in this system. It also has to do with the fact that a great power is emerging with China that claims its own place in the world order and that would also like to set up this system according to other rules. And it has to do with the fact that our own Western democracies have become quite unstable internally. The idea of ​​a united West no longer exists.”

The best example of this is the US. “A country that can’t even get an election accepted by the loser wants to tell other countries something about democracy.” According to Neumann, this seems hypocritical and unbelievable. The disintegration of the West from within also prevents people from taking care of their image in the rest of the world. “We’re too focused on ourselves.” And this is currently the biggest challenge for Neumann. The gloomy balance: “Democracy is on the defensive. We need to think seriously about how to save the Western system into the next century.” How did it come to this?

The West has made big mistakes

A look at history à la Neumann: “After the end of the Cold War, the West seemed so dominant and Western ideas so obvious that it was assumed that they would spread on their own and need no explanation.” An error. “On the one hand, the West was very naive, but on the other hand, also very arrogant. Ultimately, this mixing made the West and its ideology unsuccessful.”

The result of this toxic cocktail is now visible. Because many African states do not find Western influence liberating. “The West has failed to export these values ​​to the Third World to the same extent.” What was experienced there was often exploitative. As a result, people are turning their backs on the West – and towards China and Russia. China in particular is seen much better in Africa than the West.

For Neumann, the solution is clear: “We have to be more modest. Seriously listen to people outside the West. Admitting our own mistakes. And try to build real partnerships.”