The Dispersed West. The Poisoned Apple of Oriental Despotism

What is despotism today? And why is it once again threatening liberal democracies? In Western culture, despotism, that is, political power analogous to that which the master exercises over the slaves, has been the form of government proper for centuries to Asian or Eurasian empires – a form opposed to moderate government, which would complete its architecture in the European constitutional democracies of the second half of the twentieth century. In the dark and chaotic era passage we are facing, this “masterpiece of legislation” is once again challenged by the great empires that aim to sink constitutional democracies and design a new global order in their image and likeness. The abandonment of a wishful cosmopolitanism as well as nationalistic remnants in favour of a rapid process of transformation of the institutions of the European Union in a federal sense is the narrow door through which we must pass in order to save, at least in Europe, liberal democracy. In Western culture, despotism—that is, political power analogous to the power a master exercises over servants—has for centuries been regarded as the form of government characteristic of Asian or Eurasian empires. Opposed to it stands moderate government, which finds its fullest expression in the constitutional democracies of post-war Europe. Today, in the dark and chaotic epochal transition we are going through, this "masterpiece of legislation" is once again under attack: major powers aim to undermine constitutional democracies and to design a new global order in their own image and likeness. To save liberal democracy, at least in Europe, we must pass through a narrow door: abandoning both a wishful cosmopolitanism and the remnants of nationalism, and initiating a rapid process of transforming the institutions of the European Union in a federal direction.