Western universalism persists even as Western relative power and cultural appeal decline

Evidence

Alone among civilizations the West has had a major and at times devastating impact on every other civilization. The relation between the power and culture of the West and the power and cultures of other civilizations is, as a result, the most pervasive characteristic of the world of civilizations. As the relative power of other civilizations increases, the appeal of Western culture fades and non-Western peoples have increasing confidence in and commitment to their indigenous cultures. The central problem in the relations between the West and the rest is, consequently, the discordance between the West’s—particularly America’s—efforts to promote a universal Western culture and its declining ability to do so. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 488

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘discordance between universalist ambition and declining relative power’ echoes the rise-and-decline power transition ideas in Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and current debates over American hegemony. — connects to: Western secularism claims universality while resisting genuine multicultural inclusion — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 296
• SEED: An essay angle: the gap between American foreign-policy rhetoric (democracy promotion) and actual capability — how ‘soft power’ claims survive hard-power decline.