The Decline of the West

Part One - The Paradox of Liberalism

“The last act is the greatest treason. To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

― T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral

In a week when Tony Blair announced the end of the supremacy of the West it is timely to consider what the nature of this decline might mean, beyond mere political power, and the means and will to dictate which nations shall be ruined in the name of progress, of freedom and democracy.

What do I mean when I talk of ‘decline’? I will examine the following aspects in three parts:

• The paradox of Liberalism

• The Great Retreat

• The nature of Empire in collapse