Is the West Built ‘Over the Centuries With Genius and Sacrifice’ Really Lost?

Last week,, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared the West was over. “What we once called the normative West no longer exists in this form,” he explained. “At best, it is still a geographical designation, but no longer a normative bond that holds us together.” The chancellor was speaking in the aftermath of the release of the Trump administration’s national security strategy.

Such an extreme comment was oddly placed, as the administration’s strategy which called for “enabling Europe to stand on its own feet,” “building up the healthy nations of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe,” and “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations” – none of which were inherently anti-European to me. Nor does the following: “American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history.” Neither “We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe.”

But the reaction, particularly Europe’s, to the national security strategy has been rehashed, hashed, and rehashed again. A more interesting question is an interrogation of why Merz believes the West no longer exists.