Week 3: Neo-Realities, Navigating the New World Order

The "neo-something" order cannot survive on crumbs

Dear all,

Raw. Force. Unhinged. The liberalism in “neo-liberalism” is just “neo” nowadays. Neo-populism, neo-oligarchism, neo-nationalism, neo-money buys it all neo-ism.

Liberalism as we know it is dead. Democracy is strangled to the chariots of populism, on the road to autocracy while quiet masses, failed institutions, and broken rule of law pretend that all of it is just how it should be.

Values-based liberal societies are no more. History books will describe this sequence of history as “the time when a group of ultra-rich people took control over the world while privileged western bourgeoisie Instagrammed their latest cool vacation destination with incredible food.”

No need to mention the masses in this context; they go where the bread is. The old order is gone, and the new one is bewildering. Fortune favors the strong. No longer do we need to question the motives and intentions of the people doing their utmost to consolidate ultimate power over everything and everybody.

Divided Europe, divided west, transactional world. People feel trapped and want a sense of release, a promise of a dramatically different future, or just a future. Even if that sense of freedom comes vicariously from a group of ultra-rich who have manipulated, flexed, and snapped the chains of the system. People want to feel part of something bigger and stronger, especially as they grow lonelier and weaker, and their worlds fracture and atomize day by day. These harsh realities are highlighted by a 24-country global opinion poll recently released by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). The survey was designed in collaboration with the Europe in a Changing World research project at Oxford University.

Here are just a few findings that might make you splutter into your coffee: many people outside Europe welcome Trump’s arrival, believing it will benefit their country, promote world peace, and specifically help achieve peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. Majorities in India and Saudi Arabia hold these views, as do majorities or pluralities—depending on the question—in China, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia.

In contrast, Europe and South Korea (which, like Europe, relies on the US for security) stand almost alone in their level of concern about Trump’s impact. One of the most startling findings in this year’s poll is that, on average, across nine EU member states surveyed—including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Poland—only 22% of Europeans regard the US as an “ally.” Another 51% see the US as a “necessary partner.”

There are no countries anymore. The national entities we know as countries are now economic entities trading their way forward.

What is to be done?