Western values are diverging from the rest of the world’s

Western values are diverging from the rest of the world’s

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Autocrats, perhaps unsurprisingly, tend not to be Kumbaya-humming pedlars of peace and unity. Xi Jinping, China’s president, sneers at “the so-called universal values of the West”. Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in part because he saw the country’s independence as a threat to Russia. What is more curious is that many of their people feel the same.

Thirty years ago, some academics suggested that rising wealth and living standards across the world would bring people’s values into alignment. They would give greater weight to their own experience and less to religious books or the authority of leaders, becoming more liberal in the process. In fact, the gap in values between different countries has actually grown. Three decades of results from the World Values Survey, the world’s biggest social-research network, help show why the hoped-for shift towards a more tolerant world has not come to pass. Yet our reporting also argues that an idea of universal values is more valuable than ever.

Bo Franklin, senior digital editor

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Tariq Bhatti (ALMI, ACS, FLMI (BF) - LOMA USA)

Founder & CEO - Pension Pakistan / Editor: World Trade & Diplomacy Lens

8mo

You seek to impose your values upon the world while disregarding the rich tapestry of religions and cultures that exist within it. However, these values you champion often sow discord, unrest, and foster unhealthy competition within your society. The once cohesive family structures now lie in disarray. Your approach demonstrates a glaring double standard, particularly evident in your treatment of Muslims compared to other regions, such as China. Moreover, you've established havens for ill-gotten wealth from across the globe, perpetuating corruption on a grand scale. International institutions like the UN, IMF, World Bank, ADB, WTO, and IPO, which should serve as bastions of equality and progress, are instead wielded as instruments of suppression against developing nations. Furthermore, you profit immensely from the manufacturing and sale of weapons, perpetuating cycles of violence and conflict around the globe. In light of these actions, what do you anticipate as the inevitable consequences?

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Holger Krins

Nur wenige sind fähig, eine politische Konzeption zu entwerfen und durchzuführen, aber wir sind alle fähig, sie zu beurteilen. PERIKLES VON ATHEN (nach Karl R. Popper)

8mo

To make it certain first: I am lucky to live in a part of the world that developed out of the heritage of Athen's democracy, Roman law, French Revolution, and European enlightenment and that guarantees me a high degree of personal freedom. Nevertheless I ask myself, wether it is sensible or useful to follow a value driven foreign policy like the current German government does? If Westerners talking about human rights, other peaple may understand imperialism of some kind. I want to point at the method of the 'Dialectics of Enlightenment' (Adorno/Habermas), which postulates that in a case of conflict, we should regard the disputed issue from the perspective of the opposite actor (not as an excuse for massacre of any kind). In the case of China I would suggest to carry out a little thought experiment: Imagine that you are a Chinese born in 1795. What had you expirienced during your lifetime until today - especially in regard of Western values: At first the transformation of the largest economy of the word into a colony by means of Opium wars, imperialistic attacs, the Versailles Treaty... On a sign at the gates of the Huangpu- Park in your own hometown Shanghai you red 'No dogs - or Chinese' ... What would you think?

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Catherine B. Zinabala

Strategy and Risk Officer @ Yaqar Wealth Management & KSK Associates Good in Research, Wealth Management, Quality and Risk

8mo

Brilliant

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Catherine B. Zinabala

Strategy and Risk Officer @ Yaqar Wealth Management & KSK Associates Good in Research, Wealth Management, Quality and Risk

8mo

this is very brilliant

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