‘Partners of First Resort’: Why the world needs a united West

     

The transatlantic alliance needs renewal: a refreshed statement of shared purpose and democratic values, together with new institutions dedicated to shared action, according to co-authors of the forthcoming book Partners of First Resort: America, Europe, and the Future of the West.

The United States and Europe still need each other, and the world needs a vibrant and energetic West to sustain the global order, they write for Foreign Affairs:

Although some scholars argue that the center of economic and political power has shifted, the balance of material resources still lies in the West, as the United States and Europe earn nearly half of the world’s income and engage in nearly half of its military spending. Other industrialized democracies—such as Australia, India, Japan, and South Korea—are integral to addressing the rise of China and confronting North Korea, but the transatlantic alliance remains the indispensable foundation of any liberal order capable of acting in the global interest.

The authoritarian resurgence has made values and rights into a new terrain of strategic competition, according to Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy.

The good news for democratic forces is that despite autocrats’ increasingly aggressive information warfare, global struggles from Hong Kong to Belarus affirm the robust demand for democratic rights, inclusion and freedom, he told this week’s webinar on A Battle of Narratives: Building Public Support for Democratic Renewal.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email