Reference News Network, September 22 report: The U.S. "Foreign Affairs" bi-monthly website published an article titled "What's Wrong with the 'West'" on September 18. The author is Stuart Patrick, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the United States. The following is a translated version of the article:

It has become common to talk about living in a "post-Western world." Commentators often use this term to announce the rise of non-Western powers. However, at the same time that other countries are rising, the "West" itself as a meaningful geopolitical entity is heading towards extinction. For some time now, the "West," which was seen as a unified political, economic, and security community, has been in a precarious situation. And President Trump's second term may deliver the final blow.

"Trump 2.0" has a huge impact

The West was the core of the so-called "free world" during the Cold War. The West not only survived this bipolar conflict but also expanded its boundaries through the expansion of NATO and the EU.

At the same time, periodic divisions and tensions have constantly hit the unity of the West. For example, the Suez Canal crisis in 1956, President Nixon's sudden announcement in 1971 to stop the gold exchange of the dollar, and the European missile crisis in the 1980s.

However, these events tested the cohesion of the West far less than Trump returning to the White House. Since January of this year, this president has vigorously promoted the "America First" policy in foreign, economic, and national security policies. His vision of America's global role is filled with extreme nationalism, unilateralism, protectionism, and pragmatism. Unlike previous presidents, he rarely talks about America's global leadership, let alone international responsibilities. He looks down on alliances, multilateralism, and international law, ignores democratic, human rights, and development issues, and destroys America's ability to promote these issues abroad. He refuses to accept the responsibility of the United States in providing global public goods, including maintaining trade openness, maintaining financial stability, slowing climate change, ensuring global health security, and nuclear non-proliferation. He is the most important supporter of the rise of right-wing nationalist political forces in Europe and North America. He promotes a more vague concept of the West at the civilizational level and questions the lasting importance of the West in geopolitical terms.

The demise of the West as a meaningful entity will remove the main driving force of the rules-based international order. It is certain that the decline of the West indeed brings opportunities for middle powers, allowing them to establish new networks of international cooperation suitable for the 21st century. But it also heralds a world that is less peaceful and less cooperative.

The alliance system is falling apart

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an innocent expectation that the Western world would inevitably expand its influence.

These expectations did not materialize. Instead of seeing the Western world expand its ranks, people witnessed the rise of other countries, with many major and regional powers striving to increase their voice in international institutions.

Despite various challenges, the solidarity of Western countries has not shaken, and even remained so after Trump's first term.

But eight months into Trump's second term, this trust has been shattered. At the G7 summit and NATO summit in June this year, American allies tried to cover up the growing friction, including Trump's high tariffs, threats to allies to increase defense spending, and unilateral strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. The leaders made every effort to please, while avoiding the fact that Trump's unrelenting bullying deviated from the deliberative democracy that had long underpinned relations between Western countries.

American closest allies can no longer take Washington's security guarantees for granted. In the Asia-Pacific region, American allies are also worried that the United States might suddenly stop providing "insurance." As Trump destroyed the rules-based multilateral trading system by imposing comprehensive tariffs, American allies are taking action to diversify commercial choices, engage with more reliable partners, and reshape the global trading system in the process.

This risk-mitigation approach aligns with public sentiment. Public opinion surveys in Europe show that support for the United States has fallen to a low point, and confidence in the transatlantic alliance is also declining. In the spring of 2025, only 28% of respondents considered the United States "a fairly reliable ally," compared to over 75% a year earlier.

Exploring new types of partnerships

Now, middle powers in the West are exploring a flexible new type of partnership with emerging middle powers in the developing world, following the trend of "multipolar alignment" - that is, countries pursuing maximum flexibility in diplomatic, economic, and security relationships rather than always standing by a particular great power or group.

The West is tearing apart, and its definition is moving away from geopolitical and ideological alliances. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the United States, where confidence in the transatlantic alliance is increasingly eroding. With internal divisions within the West coming to light, there is now reason to question whether the concept of the "West" still holds coherence and practical value.

In the past, strategic and ideological solidarity between the United States and other Western countries was taken for granted, but now cracks have appeared. The decline of the West is not solely due to Trump. In most Western developed countries, voters are becoming increasingly polarized, the political center is losing support, and moderate parties and governments are losing authority. Radical worldists and conservative nationalists are clashing, engaging in fierce debates on topics such as the true meaning of the "West."

The demise of the West as a reliable geopolitical entity will increasingly be manifested in disagreements between the United States and its former partners on various issues, each holding their own views. Washington's abandonment of internationalism and disregard for concerns about liberal norms and agenda-setting lead to differences among Western countries on values and threat perceptions, ultimately fundamentally undermining the unity of the West.

This rupture is significant because it occurs in the "core area" of the world order established after World War II. It also provides new choices for global middle powers, not just Western middle powers, but also other emerging economies. (Translated by Hu Guanghe)

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