The world is coming out from under Western domination, and the loss of dominance will mainly hit Europe, says Le Point columnist Gérard Araud. According to him, the demographic crisis, average economic growth and brain drain in the US will lead to European countries becoming more of a tourist destination and retirement home.
The emergence of new world powers such as China, India, Russia, Turkey and Brazil means the end of “Western domination” – the brief period after the fall of the Soviet Union when the West, led by the US, dictated its will to the rest of the world, writes Le Point columnist Gerard Araud. The world’s leading powers were not cautious, so much so that their dominance seemed natural and beneficial to them. They advocated a “rules-based peace” and the “spread of human rights and democracy,” without admitting to themselves that their actions often contradicted these statements.
However, after the Ukrainian conflict has brought Western countries back to nineteenth-century warfare, they dare even to criticize this democracy that each of them used to glorify. The world is freeing itself from Western control, but the United States, unlike Europe, does not face an inevitable decline. America retains a number of traditional advantages: a world financial center in New York, excellent universities, outstanding research centers and an entrepreneurial spirit. It offers investors a large market, inexhaustible and cheap labour and complete tax and legal security. Finally, the US has realized the beauty of industrial policy and protectionism, which allows it to poach many foreign companies.
The hegemony of the dollar is constantly prophesied to end, but all attempts to challenge it have been defeated by the impossibility of replacing it, the author of the article points out. India buys Russian oil for rupees, but Moscow doesn’t know what to do with them and is saving them in New Delhi. In 2022, the dollar accounted for 58.4 per cent of global currency reserves and 47.6 per cent of international transactions. For the Chinese yuan, the same figures were 2.45 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, with experts talking about a crisis in the Chinese economy, which may turn out to be structural.
Europe is another matter: American and Asian partners see it as an undoubtedly rich region, which is gradually being overshadowed by the return of Asia, which dreams of regaining the title of the richest region. The average level of economic growth and the worsening demographic crisis suggest that Europe is ageing and sinking into its socio-democratic comfort with memories of former greatness. It is becoming more of a tourist destination than a center of creation and new ideas. Everywhere in European countries, pensioners are becoming the main force in elections, and the fulfilment of their demands is increasingly falling on the shoulders of the active population and the youth. As for the accelerating technological transition, its origins are still in California, where the best European scientists and engineers continue to flock to seek the resources and impetus they cannot find in the Old World.
Europe has proven its resilience many times over, but now more than ever it needs to demonstrate its skills if it is not to fall victim to the history it has long written for itself. However, instead of joining forces, European countries are going after their inner demons. These states, which are nothing more than cantons in today’s world, are losing themselves in irrelevant disputes, whereas what they need now is unity, perspective and youth, says Le Point’s columnist.
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