Loss of faith

Today, the man who promises to “make America great again” becomes our president. The inauguration of an individual who plans to shake-up or overhaul the status quo is not unprecedented, even in recent history. Barack Obama’s main campaign theme was change. Ronald Reagan proposed a major shift in the country’s course. However, both of these men had clear ideas about the institutional and ideological pillars of American greatness. In the “A More Perfect Union” speech, Obama portrayed his life story, possible “in no other country on Earth,” as a manifestation of America’s exceptionalism. Reagan spoke passionately about what made America the “shining city on a hill.” Donald Trump, for all his talk about returning the country to greatness, shows little appreciation of what made America exceptional in the first place. Unfortunately, he is far from alone.

The West—encompassing North America, Europe, and Australia—is undergoing a crisis of faith. Commitment to our institutions is waning. Trump’s threats to a free press, such as “opening up libel laws,” did not sufficiently disturb Americans so as to prevent his ultimate victory. Younger generations see living in a democracy as less essential than their parents and grandparents did. The financial crisis of 2007-09 and the loss of manufacturing jobs to automation and globalization have shaken people’s faith in capitalism, even in the United States where the free market has long enjoyed a sacrosanct status. Western values are eroding as well. The belief in an open and free society is under assault. Openness to immigrants and tolerance of foreigners is in decline in both the United States and Europe, allowing populist parties to gain influence and power. In many environments, most notably the American university, free speech and ideological diversity face serious challenges.

At the end of the Cold War, many believed that the Western model of liberal democracy and free markets would rapidly proliferate until the “end of history” was reached. Over the course of the 20th century, the societies that had moved towards this model prospered and those that chose competing alternatives—such as that of the Soviet Union—fell behind. In the early century, Kemal Atatürk established a secular, westernized state from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Later, the Asian Tigers made enormous gains in living standards as they liberalized their markets. Towards the close of the century, many countries in Latin America moved from dictatorship to democracy, improving the region’s prospects.

But as the West has lost faith in itself and what it still has to offer the world, its challengers have been emboldened. Vladimir Putin and Bashaar al-Assad have repeatedly violated the norms of the international order led by the west (though primarily the U.S.). Recep Tayyip Erdogan—breaking from Atatürk’s vision—seems more interested in making Turkey a leader in the Islamic world than in integrating his country into the West. Though China has moved towards a capitalist economy and Xi Jiping has recently been lauded for his defense of globalization, the authoritarian Communist party remains steadfast in its rejection of Western political institutions such as the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.

This loss of faith is most dangerous not because it emboldens our enemies, but because we run the risk of abandoning the ideas and institutions that have underpinned the remarkable success of Western civilization. 500 years ago, few people would have predicted that the Europeans and North American continents would be home to the most powerful and influential countries on earth. China and the Middle East were equally if not more advanced. However, over a long period of time, the West developed a particular set of ideas and institutions that provided blueprint for prosperity unlike any other and soon its living standards surpassed other regions of the world.

This semester my column will explore these ideas and institutions: how they came about, why they have been important to Western success and, perhaps most importantly, why they are fragile and require effort to be preserved. I will also examine why some of these ideas and institutions failed to take hold in other parts of the world. My goal is to help restore faith, to the extent that my readers had lost it, in the dynamism and boundless promise of a society of free individuals.

Julian Keeley is a Trinity senior. His column, “individuals and institutions” runs on alternate Fridays.