Are the Western elites, the world’s reigning masters of evasion, losing their footing? Their empire, built on power and arrogance, is collapsing under the blows of reality.
In a world where Western elites strut their stuff in their sense of superiority, the appearance of respectability hides a reality of obsolete policies and selfish interests. Governance is tainted with hypocrisy, advocating “democracy” while manipulating institutions, denouncing corruption while allowing itself to be corrupted, and ignoring human rights abuses in their own countries. This, linked to a dangerous dependence on fossil fuels, is endangering our planet for short-term profits. Their foreign policy, marked by colonial arrogance, imposes values and sanctions without regard for consequences. Faced with the emergence of new powers like China and Russia of the BRICS Alliance, the Western empire is faltering. The lesson to be learned is that it now appears imperative for these elites to wake up and readjust their software, while transforming their practices for a multipolar, sustainable and just future.
Hypocrisy as a mode of governance: the double language of Western elites
In the imperialist West, elites excel in a double language where political hypocrisy, backed by US foreign policy, is erected as a mode of governance. Although they position themselves as champions of “democracy”, “transparency”, and “human rights”, behind the scenes, manipulation and corruption dominate. Democracy, often brandished as an ideal, turns out to be a predictable tool of control, where the voice of citizens is stifled by special interests. Promising transparency, these elites hide their true intentions behind a veil of secrecy and dissimulation, while increasing corruption escapes justice. By posing as defenders of human rights, they exploit this discourse for opportunistic interventions, ignoring the violations committed by their allies. Hypocrisy, which has become a political weapon, discredits, justifies, and maintains power to the detriment of institutional trust and social cohesion. This is why, in the Macronian dimension, the elites in the circle of power in the West remain blind to a broken mirror that reflects their own duplicity. By clinging to immediate profits, they risk a real collective suicide, ignored but not forgotten by history and future generations, who will condemn them for their blindness and greed.
Arrogance as foreign policy: the superiority complex
Driven by a superiority complex, Western elites adopt a posture of arrogance on the international stage, viewing other nations through the prism of a supposed cultural, economic and military superiority. This Superiority Syndrome prevents them from recognizing the significant developments of other civilizations, thus rendering their threats and interventions vestiges of a bygone gunboat policy. Strategies based on blackmail diplomacy, with their sanctions and pressure games, prove ineffective and weaken their status as reliable partners. Faced with declining influence, many are now turning to other emerging powers such as China, Russia or India of the BRICS Alliance, in search of more balanced relations. To avoid isolation, Western elites must transcend their arrogance and move towards cooperation based on respect and dialogue in a multipolar world.
The decline of Empire: Western elites and their denial of reality
Shaken by globalization, the Ukrainian conflict, multipolarity and the environmental crisis, Western elites are facing an unprecedented decline. Retrograde, they cling to an unhealthy nostalgia for their former superiority, while the rise of powers such as China, India and Russia fuels their fear of downgrading and generates desperate reactions, including the proxy war in Ukraine. Locked in denial, they delude themselves about the permanence of their domination, criminally obscuring a reality marked by the economic crisis, the environmental emergency, the amplification of inequalities and societal polarization. However, the signs of decline are clear: exploding public debt, crumbling institutional trust. It is time for these elites to accept that their hegemony belongs to the past and to adopt shared governance in a resolutely multipolar world. A revival towards an egalitarian and sustainable future is essential; However, they persist in ignoring this crying necessity.
It can be said that Western elites are sinking into their denial, convinced that their eternal empire will be resurrected by a miracle of Providence. But history has already delivered its verdict: their reign is over, their superiority is a myth, and their arrogance is their tomb. The reality is bitter, but it is liberating.
Mohamed Lamine KABA, Expert in geopolitics of governance and regional integration, Institute of Governance, Human and Social Sciences, Pan-African University