Name: The Retreat of Western Liberalism
ISBN: 9780802127396

Edward Luce

From the Financial Times' US commentator, The Retreat of Western Liberalism is an extraordinarily sharp and insightful look at why the values the West has long championed now face mortal danger

The Retreat of Western Liberalism

Sahi K

This book had great reviews and I wanted to read a preferably politically neutral book about the election of 2016, the reasons behind it and the possible repercussions of it across the world. This is a short and fast read, with some analysis and lots of quotes from other source material (which I am not very aware of and cant be sure of their relevance and truthfulness).

Luce describes the events – both economic and political – that have led to the rise of populism in western democracies. The main reason which everyone is increasingly realizing now is the economic despair of the middle and working class people with disappearing jobs and waning salaries. What compounds this problem is how out of touch with reality are the political and intellectual elites. When economic progress becomes stagnant or takes a downturn, people’s frustration needs an outlet and in the political scenario, the populists exploit this to create scapegoats and turn groups of people against each other. But in an increasingly pessimistic world, the only side a common man can turn to is the one giving hope (or the one confirming your biases) and not the one that doesn’t even consider you. The effects of globalization, automation and the inability of the western governments in anticipating or handling these effects are well detailed in this book.

After describing the reasons, Luce goes into how this would probably play out in the future. His speculations are deeply disturbing and he seems to believe that Western democracies are failing and a line has been crossed from which course correction might not be possible. He also doesn’t give any blanket solutions but asks everyone to be eternally vigilant. “The line between illiberal democracy and autocracy (or pluto-populism) is very thin and we will know it when we see it“. That’s a scary thought but doesn’t seem very unreal in these confusing times.

Michael Camilleri

This reads like it was written in a rush, which, to be fair, Luce discloses that it was. Much of it feels like a collection of notes on other writers' work and there's a staccato nature to the prose in the first half of the book that I found particularly tiring. I'm hugely sympathetic to Luce's concerns; I wish there'd been more here about what to do about them.

The Retreat of Western Liberalism

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