Why the war will not revitalise the West.
Almost from the moment Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, Western governments and commentators seized on the war as an opportunity for revitalising the West. This is why the war was widely proclaimed to be heralding the beginning of a new era – as the ‘crucible of the new world order’.
Among the world leaders to promote this line was German chancellor Olaf Scholz. Back in March, he claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine meant that the world stands in a ‘new era’. He announced an ‘historic shift’ in German defence policy, pledging €100 billion of investment in the German army for 2022 alone.
In fact, talk of a new era began before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For many, the war played into the pre-existing idea of the ‘Great Reset’. The Great Reset is a fantasy scenario invented by Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum. Back in June 2020, he argued that the Covid pandemic provided a compelling reason for the pursuit of a ‘great reset of capitalism’. For Schwab, this meant a more technocratic approach to capitalism.
