The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy Ivan Krastev Author

The book by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes is a tough, sometimes ruthless global analysis of why the liberal-democratic euphoria of the end of the last century ended in disappointment. Why, after the collapse of communism, the states did not transfo... Read more

The book by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes is a tough, sometimes ruthless global analysis of why the liberal-democratic euphoria of the end of the last century ended in disappointment. Why, after the collapse of communism, the states did not transform, but only began to imitate democracy, and very superficially? How did their leaders come to deny and publicly criticize liberal values? The authors analyze the policies of the countries of Eastern Europe, as well as Russia, the USA and China. Russia, according to the authors, eventually moved from an imitation of the Western socio-political system to a parody of American foreign policy adventurism. In the United States, Trump is actively destroying the notion of American exceptionalism and missionary foreign policy - as he believes that such an ideology holds back the country's economic development. China, on the other hand, offers a society without ideology and moral guidelines - and this model turns out to be close to many countries. Krastev and Holmes do not give a recipe for a new ideological platform for the whole world, but they explain what is the reason for the growth of nationalism and authoritarianism in many countries. Less