在第一次世界大戰爆發前,當時的人們普遍相信西方的物質文明將會高度發展,樂觀向上和直線進步的觀念深入到每個人的頭腦中。但是在這個時候,卻有一個叫奧斯瓦爾德.史賓格勒(Oswald Spengler)的德國人出來跟大多數人唱反調,他寫了一本名為《西方的沒落》(The Decline of the West)的書籍,向當時滿懷憧憬,對外來懷抱美好夢想的世人們提出冷峻的質疑。
Tony Blair has issued a rallying call to western nations to come together to develop a coherent strategy to counter the rise of China as “the world’s second superpower”.
Delivering the annual Ditchley lecture on Saturday, the former prime minister called for a policy towards Beijing of “strength plus engagement” as he warned the era of western political and economic dominance was coming to an end.
He said western powers needed to increase their defence spending in order to maintain their military superiority while extending their “soft power” by building ties with developing nations.
At the same time, they needed urgently to end the “craziness” in their domestic politics and to restore “reason and strategy”.
“How did Britain ever reach a point where Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn came for a short but consequential time to shape our politics? Or America to a place where whether you got vaccinated denoted political allegiance?” he said.