How to save politics in a post-truth era?

Abstract

As the last decade of the Twentieth Century came into view, a slew of Western political commentators remarked on what appeared to be the glowing triumph of Western liberalism and capitalism against the forces of communism. Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History” thesis may be the most famous, but alongside his triumphalism was Charles Krauthammer’s argument on behalf of the Unipolar Moment in which, “The center of world power is the unchallenged superpower, the United States, attended by its Western allies.”1 This glamorization of American power was also articulated by the phrase, “The indispensable nation”, which was used by the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. One of the authors of that phrase, Sydney Blumenthal, recalled that it was meant to convey how, “Only the United States had the power to guarantee global security: without our presence or support, multilateral endeavors would fail.”2 While these pronouncements of American glory had multiple audiences, this triumph of the West is surely looking to some like a pyrrhic victory. The election of Donald Trump, pathological liar and egoist extraordinaire, and the self-inflicted wound of a referendum in the UK to leave the European Union (Brexit, as it is known), are warning signs of how the political institutions of the West are at risk.