A specter is haunting Europe and, contrary to what Marx was saying more than 150 years ago, it is not communism. Despite the highly destructive potential of political polarization, fake news and anti-globalization, it is not even the rise of extreme-right parties that should be our top concern. The sentiment that the postwar order is doomed to fail, that nothing can be done other than contemplating the decay of the West, is the real threat in Brussels and Tokyo, as it is in Washington, Paris, and Berlin. So, more than ever, the enemies of this apparently benign dolce far niente, should unite, take initiative and stand up for what is right in the medium and long term.
The first weeks of the new U.S. administration sent mixed signals about the role that Trump's America will assume in the global system. It is far from obvious how the isolationist, anti-trade, and anti-globalization rhetoric which was the trademark of Donald Trump's presidential campaign will be translated into policy. We have been the witness to some powerful and symbolic gestures (such as the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the contested travel ban), but the jury is still out on the outline of the new U.S. global strategy.
So far, various top U.S. officials have voiced their (often contradictory) preferences. Should one be satisfied with Vice President Mike Pence's security pledges, as they were expressed during the Munich Security Conference? Or should more weight be given to the anti-European Union, hence anti-Europe, comments of Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon? These are legitimate questions and it remains to be seen if a systemic or an anti-system vision will prevail.