It’s no secret that the west captured the imagination and respect of the rest of the world for centuries. However, what is a secret — because it is happening silently and invisibly in the minds of billions — is that the west is now losing this respect.
It wasn’t western values that made the west pre-eminent, but performance. Superior performance enabled the comparatively small population of the west to pull ahead of the rest of humanity for 200 years and to use its technological superiority to colonise all corners of the globe. It’s hard to believe that barely 100 years ago, 100,000 Englishmen could effectively rule over 300mn Indians. Despite the well-founded resentments of the postcolonial era, the global south’s respect for western outperformance was real and enduring.
In the postwar period in particular, most western societies were stable and well-ordered, enjoying both consensual democracies and sustained economic growth. Their leaders, even when not inspiring, were sensible. As the American diplomat George Kennan wisely predicted, it would be the “spiritual vitality” of the west that would ultimately defeat the Soviet Union.