To be crude, on the other hand, 'the west' is just a convenient shorthand term for the USA and its associated vassal states, of whatever historical or civilisational derivation. Until the dissolution of the US empire, this would seem to be sufficient for working purposes, as most of the time in most areas, the US says 'jump' and the rest of the west says 'how high?'
As for the 'decline' - most of this can be attributed to Neo-liberal capitalism's addiction to short term profits for the ruling class.
The entire West is so completely out of touch with reality that it is basically committing suicide. Putin and others have also often said the following: “We don't need to do anything, nothing, we just have to watch the West destroy itself”.
"The only author I found to have properly formulated the question “What is the West?” is Emmanuel Todd in a chapter of his recent “La défaite de l’Occident”."
After reading this book, I immediately felt the need to open it up for broad discussion and critique. It's not perfect, but it's the first serious effort I've seen to analyze why and how the "west" has so suddenly declined.
If your substack does nothing more than open this book up for wider discussion amongst "westerners" then it's well worth it. My suggestion: post an article per chapter.
your suggestion is a good one.. there are a few links available that do discuss the book.. here is one posted earlier today on moa, that you might enjoy, if you haven't watched it already.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abRrI5OU5Do
The west is that deadly infected part of the world I run away from.
I am a real refugee, who is waiting for countries to invite the healthy with means and skills and offer freedom. Right now my stuff is stored outside the west and I am with light luggage ready to move on in case the west comes too close.
--
The west has been that civilisation where reason was the foundation of everything, but this is over with and so dramatic over with, that common sense is dead as well.
I believe "we will find us" - there will be a place where civilisation can live und survive - I wait for the "where".
I think a thorough, deep investigation into Eastern Orthodoxy is required to help answer your question. (I don't think Todd does this.) The way Eastern Orthodoxy constrasts itself with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism can shed light on and reveal the nature of the religious and ideological underpinnings of the West.
One good source is, I think, the book series Paradise and Utopia (https://johnstrickland.org/). I think it presents the textbook Eastern Orthodox analysis of the West and its identity.
Another source is, of course, Alexander Dugin, who knows the Russia-West relationship well, and the Dugin-Solzhenitsyn dichotomy. No question Solzhenitsyn adheres much more strictly than Dugin to the Orthodox way of thinking.
Thank you for a much needed and thought-provoking article. And welcome to substack!
My thought is that the question of "What is the West?" is best approached as a historical question.
There are many fruitful ways of asking that question - such as in the work of John Darwin or Felipe Fernandez-Armesto - that I discuss over at my substack.
Reflecting on the history I think also opens up more possibilities of a multipolar world of the future - even more inviting to the rest of the world than the Western Renaissance that you envisage.
Is there not a definition of the West in Russia, when, I understand, many (who how and when I do not know) apply to Moscow the title of the Third Rome
I'm sorry I am too lazy to look into the subject - but there is a large amount of Orthodox Christianity in the mix
And certainly VVP and others rejoice in Russia as the foundational nation for (perhaps not all) western values, which recently they have spelled out
That in the rest of the west they have adopted the title by default, or have not bothered to describe their values in the way you evoke, is only one example of their laziness in the understanding of what and who they are or think they are
To be crude, on the other hand, 'the west' is just a convenient shorthand term for the USA and its associated vassal states, of whatever historical or civilisational derivation. Until the dissolution of the US empire, this would seem to be sufficient for working purposes, as most of the time in most areas, the US says 'jump' and the rest of the west says 'how high?'
As for the 'decline' - most of this can be attributed to Neo-liberal capitalism's addiction to short term profits for the ruling class.
The entire West is so completely out of touch with reality that it is basically committing suicide. Putin and others have also often said the following: “We don't need to do anything, nothing, we just have to watch the West destroy itself”.
"The only author I found to have properly formulated the question “What is the West?” is Emmanuel Todd in a chapter of his recent “La défaite de l’Occident”."
After reading this book, I immediately felt the need to open it up for broad discussion and critique. It's not perfect, but it's the first serious effort I've seen to analyze why and how the "west" has so suddenly declined.
If your substack does nothing more than open this book up for wider discussion amongst "westerners" then it's well worth it. My suggestion: post an article per chapter.
your suggestion is a good one.. there are a few links available that do discuss the book.. here is one posted earlier today on moa, that you might enjoy, if you haven't watched it already.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abRrI5OU5Do
The west is that deadly infected part of the world I run away from.
I am a real refugee, who is waiting for countries to invite the healthy with means and skills and offer freedom. Right now my stuff is stored outside the west and I am with light luggage ready to move on in case the west comes too close.
--
The west has been that civilisation where reason was the foundation of everything, but this is over with and so dramatic over with, that common sense is dead as well.
I believe "we will find us" - there will be a place where civilisation can live und survive - I wait for the "where".
I think a thorough, deep investigation into Eastern Orthodoxy is required to help answer your question. (I don't think Todd does this.) The way Eastern Orthodoxy constrasts itself with Roman Catholicism and Protestantism can shed light on and reveal the nature of the religious and ideological underpinnings of the West.
One good source is, I think, the book series Paradise and Utopia (https://johnstrickland.org/). I think it presents the textbook Eastern Orthodox analysis of the West and its identity.
Another source is, of course, Alexander Dugin, who knows the Russia-West relationship well, and the Dugin-Solzhenitsyn dichotomy. No question Solzhenitsyn adheres much more strictly than Dugin to the Orthodox way of thinking.
There is a 17 years old and continuing blog by Father Stephen Freeman which has as one of its themes contrasting Orthodoxy with Modernity (a Western philosophy-ideology). He has articles such as these (https://glory2godforallthings.com/2012/10/04/history-post-modernism-and-orthodoxy/, https://glory2godforallthings.com/2018/05/22/the-inherent-violence-of-modernity/, and https://glory2godforallthings.com/2014/12/01/end-modern-world/) which discuss the West's characteristics of universality, moralism, violence, efficiency, etc.
Thank you for a much needed and thought-provoking article. And welcome to substack!
My thought is that the question of "What is the West?" is best approached as a historical question.
There are many fruitful ways of asking that question - such as in the work of John Darwin or Felipe Fernandez-Armesto - that I discuss over at my substack.
Reflecting on the history I think also opens up more possibilities of a multipolar world of the future - even more inviting to the rest of the world than the Western Renaissance that you envisage.
I look forward to further dialogue.
Is there not a definition of the West in Russia, when, I understand, many (who how and when I do not know) apply to Moscow the title of the Third Rome
I'm sorry I am too lazy to look into the subject - but there is a large amount of Orthodox Christianity in the mix
And certainly VVP and others rejoice in Russia as the foundational nation for (perhaps not all) western values, which recently they have spelled out
That in the rest of the west they have adopted the title by default, or have not bothered to describe their values in the way you evoke, is only one example of their laziness in the understanding of what and who they are or think they are