Global Challenges is a brand of DvH Medien. The new institute aims to promote the discussion of geopolitical issues through publications by recognized experts. Today a contribution by Prof. Dr. Bert Rürup. He is president of the Handelsblatt Research Institute and chief economist of the “Handelsblatt”. Further authors are Prof. Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Sigmar Gabriel, Günther H. Oettinger, Prof. Dr. Renate Schubert, Prof. Dr. Volker Perthes and Prof. Jörg Rochol PhD.
In the conflicts between the USA, China, Russia and Europe, “Western values” are often used. Up until modern times, the “West” stood for the “Occident”, shaped by Greek philosophy and Christianity. From the late 18th century onwards, the achievements of the French Revolution – freedom, equality, fraternity – were added. For the historian Heinrich August Winkler, “the West” embodies the idea of democracy, the separation of powers, the rule of law, freedom of expression and human dignity – the antithesis of dictatorship and autocracy.
The “values of the West” are considered to be a fixed star for the development of democratic industrialized countries, which in the past few decades have actually often been characterized by an increase in liberalism and participation. Nevertheless, Winkler’s dictum is surprising, especially from a historian’s perspective. For European colonialism and imperialism from the end of the 15th to well into the 20th century speaks a different language: not the language of human rights and human dignity, but that of the violent conquest, mostly bloody oppression and exploitation of other countries. This also applies to the USA to a lesser extent: since the Monroe Doctrine of the 1820s, Washington has long viewed Latin America as its “backyard” – and has treated it accordingly.
Historically, the topos of the moral superiority of the “West” is badly tainted by its history of violence. The question arises what it looks like in the present.
Calling the USA the “torchbearer of democratic freedom” would probably not have occurred to convinced Atlanticists during the presidency of Donald Trump. Trump’s contempt for democratic rules of the game was just as obvious as his respect for dictators. He further polarized the already divided and in parts still racist US society.
It doesn’t look much better in the European Union
Trump managed to trick millions of US citizens into believing that his election victory had been stolen. In doing so, he has laid the ax to the cornerstone of the democratic principle of peaceful change of power. Despite the trillion programs, his successor Joe Biden is unlikely to be able to fill in the deep trenches in US society anytime soon – although Biden also pursues an “America-first” policy, only with much quieter tones. An example of this is the ban on exporting corona vaccines. The return of US foreign (economic) policy to multilateralism is so far only a hope.
It doesn’t look much better in the European Union: where the wall and barbed wire stood until the end of the Cold War, today a deep ideological rift separates the “Western community of values”. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, for example, refuses to accept refugees, undermines the freedom of the press and mobilizes Hungarian nationalism with abstruse conspiracy theories against billionaire George Soros. Orbán openly strives for an “illiberal democracy”, but does not want to forego aid from Brussels.
Warsaw is being overrun by the EU Commission with one rule of law proceedings after the other because the “Party for Law and Justice” ruling Poland has been shredding the independence of the judiciary for years. In the Czech Republic, too, the rule of law is given a rather diffuse importance. In short: the great expectations of the EU’s eastward expansion in 2004 were often disappointed with regard to the “western values”.
The fact that an often racist right-wing populism has long since gained a foothold in the western core states of Europe doesn’t make matters any better. Applause from China and the support of right-wing national parties by Russia signal that the strategists in Beijing and Moscow hope that those forces that focus on the nation state will strengthen the geopolitical weakness of the EU.
In addition, the introduction of the euro has not turned out to be a unification project, as hoped. The strong countries of the north-west face a weak south, which has been weakened even further by the corona pandemic. The promises of growth associated with the introduction of the common currency have not been fulfilled for the southerners. The economic heterogeneity of the euro zone is rather greater today than when the euro was introduced.
The “Western values”, this impression is imposed, have lost their radiance. China shows impressively how wrong the assumption was and is that technological and economic success go hand in hand with growing liberalism in business and society. There are many indications that after the Pax Britannica the Pax Americana will also step down from the world stage.
The “two-speed Europe” must finally be implemented
No country – not even China – is likely to play the role of a global regulatory power in the foreseeable future. The absence of a hegemon, however, makes international disputes rougher, as we are currently experiencing in dealings between Russia and the EU and the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
Can the European Union be the last anchor of “Western values”? If the international community wants to make its rhetorically always upheld values more attractive again, the EU must set a good example. That means: There is no getting around a deepening of the European Union, i.e. the further transfer of national sovereignty rights to the EU Commission while at the same time strengthening the European Parliament.
Since a number of former Eastern Bloc countries see the nation state as a symbol of liberation from Soviet domination and a guarantor of political freedom, the necessary deepening process cannot be carried out with them. If the Community is to go ahead, the long-known concept of a “two-speed Europe” must finally be implemented politically.
If the impetus for this came from Germany and France, the Nordic and Western EU countries would probably join in, with the exception of Finland. The geostrategists of the integration-ready “core Europe” would then have the opportunity to transform the European Union beyond the internal market into a real political and economic union: from a European army to a common labor market and social policy to a uniform financial policy.
This project could develop radiance and upgrade core Europe to a stronger, not only in Sunday speeches “value-bound” actor in the struggle with China, Russia and the USA. In any case, one would also come closer to the answer to the question of what the European Union should actually be.
I am a technology author with 8 years of experience in journalism. My writing covers the latest technology advancements and trends, drawing on my expertise in news journalism and social media platforms. I have contributed to major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.
