China and the end of the liberal order

I think we're at the end of a 300 year run of a liberal vision of the world however we want to call them and maybe something called the modern and and I think that vision is in some trouble not predicting its demise not yet but it's in some trouble now because in the last 30 years to this day since in the cold war that liberals around the world have pursued a rather extreme ideological version of modern liberalism which precludes and excludes other possibilities both intellectually and economically to the point where I think the leader of the liberal world the United States of course had committed what Paul Kennedy's defined as Imperial overreach both externally internally externally it's it's gone too far and try to impose its vision on the rest of the world are so many countries to some extent in some cases militarily to rather disastrous consequences and internally it's taken this vision of the world which places the individual as the autonomous basic unit of society at the center of the universe internally it's gone pretty far since the Reagan such a revolution with the neoliberal economic doctrine that has led to tremendous inequality in developed countries that are generating this backlash against the liberal tradition both the liberal tradition and end globalization itself and these problems are not being solved so so I think that's partially how I see it on the outside from a non liberal society the trouble with with the liberal vision what's the cause of the many crisis we are facing I think that first of all I agree that globalization is a main driver for this angst this anxiety that we have today in our societies I'm speaking out more about the Western society so Europe Americas I think that was Sicily very much aggravated by the financial crisis and austerity policies and impact that it had foresee in Europe a very specific issue is this movement of refugees and illegal migrants that has put a lot of pressure in some societies that were not used to deal with multiculturalism or diversity or they thought that they had enough of that so and that creates a backlash so there are many causes there is not a single cause and by the way I think we should avoid easy simplifications in fact that's one of the one of the intellectual devices if I may say so of populism the inconstant if you get is to make these kind of simplifications I do not agree that we are in a worse position now than 30 or 40 years ago in fact you I think we are in a better position now if you look at Europe today okay we are not happy with all the political systems and we are not happy with all the government's but it's certainly better than we have when you get off of Europe and the totalitarian communism it's much better I mean situation in in Poland or or in any central Eastern European country is better from all points of view I mean economically socially in literacy terms in openness so I don't agree liberal societies have these rulers these elites that somehow take their legitimacy for granted so they say we're legitimate because we're liberal liberalism grants us legitimacy doesn't matter no matter what and you're illegitimate because you're a liberal therefore you know so that kind of complacency I think may defeat liberalism which will be unfortunate I like to see a world where there are many different ideas of how to govern and and and but but I I mean that would be the danger of liberal societies I'm current unease party in the state are not in danger of that because they are constantly in this and have the sense of crisis and how they deliver and that's that's what I mean by legitimacy [Applause] what you wrest legitimacy on is on one hand just an empirical question all governments succeed only to the extent that they deliver in some way but the issue that you raised with with Taiwan I think goes to the heart of a very important problem and and that is if there are millions of people who want to govern themselves does nationalism always Trump's self government well and and and and that that seems to me or a rather urgent matter especially since the nationalism that would trump self-government is that of a one-party state well it depends and that's not a question of I think the problems of liberalism are evident but the fact that liberalism or Western societies have enormous problems and I come from a country where we have a very very big problem starting with the president you know the fact that there were problems doesn't legitimize any other form of rule that's exactly my point the fact that we have problems does only demise you you

Channel: TheNexusInstitute

Views: 63,936

Keywords: Nexus Instituut, Nexus Institute, Eric Li, china, liberalism, José Manuel Barroso, Barroso, EU, America, the West, the end of liberalism, china's rise, politics, legitimacy, inequality, china taiwan, authoritarianism

Id: SySejBMHDmQ

Length: 6min 23sec (383 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 08 2020