Eclipse of the West?
1945 was said to launch “The American Century.” If that weren’t enough, 1991 was
proclaimed “The Unipolar Moment.” Yet almost at once that title escalated to “The
Unipolar Era.” Can the United States already have moved from that pinnacle through
decline all the way to eclipse, eclipse not just of the United States but of the entire
West?
Voices from both East and West declare we have. This conference will examine
the question by surveying the global scene and asking where if not the West are the
sources of security, prosperity, stability, innovation, discovery and leadership? If the
West is due to yield to a successor, who will that successor be and will they seek to
displace, to dominate or to replicate the West’s achievement?