The Light That Failed, Ivan Krastev
The Light That Failed, Ivan Krastev
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The Light That Failed
Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy

Author: Ivan Krastev, Stephen Holmes

Narrator: David de Vries

Unabridged: 8 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/07/2020


Synopsis

A landmark book that completely transforms our understanding of the crisis of liberalism, from two pre-eminent intellectuals.Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance?In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only there but also back in the heartland of the West.In this brilliant work of political history, Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes argue that the supposed end of Communism turned out to be only the beginning of the age of the autocrat. Reckoning with the history of the last thirty years, they show that the most powerful force behind the wave of populist xenophobia that began in Eastern Europe stems from resentment at the post-1989 imperative to become Westernized.Through this prism, the Trump revolution represents an ironic fulfillment of the promise that the nations exiting from communist rule would come to resemble the United States. In a strange twist, Trump has elevated Putin’s Russia and Orba´n’s Hungary into models for the United States.Written by two pre-eminent intellectuals bridging the East/West divide, The Light That Failed is a landmark book that sheds light on the extraordinary history of the fall of the Western ideal.

About Ivan Krastev

Ivan Krastev is a fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, a contributing writer for the international New York Times, and, most recently, the author of the acclaimed After Europe.

About Stephen Holmes

Stephen Holmes is a Professor at the NYU School of Law and the author of many books, including The Quest for the Trinity and The Beginning of Politics. He lives in Manhattan.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Meike

English: The Light that Failed: A Reckoning This is PoliSci as I love it: Krastev and Holmes rethink the current state of the world by focusing on the concept of imitation, and they manage to provide a new perspective for the analysis of the present and the projection of the future. A very, very shor......more

Goodreads review by Linda

The Light that Failed: A Reckoning "What distinguishes national populists is that they never apologize for anything that their nation has done in its entire history. To behave like a villain while presenting oneself as a victim is the nationalistic populist singular conceit." The Light that Failed exa......more

Goodreads review by John

In 1989 the Berlin Wall was breached. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed. In 2019 the world in general and Europe in particular seems as divided as ever. Why? The Light that Failed is a brilliant book. It’s the only book I’ve discovered to date that presents so many convincing explanations of what h......more

Goodreads review by Lubinka

An utterly engrossing book that illuminates so many aspects of the post-communism realities we are facing today. Presenting the subsequent drive for democratization and liberalization as processes of imitation, the authors discern three strategies which all explain the path that Russia, the post-Sov......more

Goodreads review by Emiliya

Книгата на Кръстев и Холмс се явява естествено допълнение на ”Пътят към несвободата” от Тимъти Снайдър. Тук географската ос също е права като стрела. Централна и Източна Европа (ЦИЕ) - Русия - САЩ - Китай. Оста на идеите обаче се разклонява в доста по-заплетени вариации след края на Студената война,......more