The Fate of the West: The Battle to Save the World’s Most Successful Political Idea

The West seems to be in retreat--even from itself--and cracks have appeared in the structures of international collaboration built after 1945. We live in a time of disintegration and rekindling of old nationalisms.
Yet the end of the West has been predicted by academics, philosophers and rival statesmen for more than a hundred years. The West has proved itself to be tough--adaptable, flexible and able to evolve to meet the challenges of changing times. In this bold new book, Bill Emmott argues that in the face of new threats, we must resist attempts to close borders and minds, and work to remove obstacles that are blocking this evolutionary change.
The fight is not lost. The Fate of the West reveals that our record of overcoming our doubters and demons should give the world confidence that the idea of the West will again prevail. But to do so, we will have to return to our lodestars of openness and equality, keeping firmly in mind that without openness, the West cannot thrive; but without equality, the West cannot last.

Bill Emmott was the editor-in-chief of the Economist from 1993 to 2006, and is now a writer and consultant on international affairs. He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times in London, La Stampa in Italy, Nikkei Business in Japan, and for Project Syndicate worldwide. He is a trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a Visiting Professor at Shujitsu University, and global economic adviser for Stonehenge Fleming Family & Partners. He is the author of several books, including 20:21 Vision, Rivals, and Good Italy, Bad Italy. He is also the narrator and co-author, with Annalisa Piras, of a documentary about Italy, Girlfriend in a Coma. In 2015, he produced The Great European Disaster Movie, which has now been seen by 2,500,000 people in twelve countries and translated into ten languages.