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Article: From Plato to Nato: The Idea of the West and its Opponents.(poem)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- April 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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From Plato to Nato: The Idea of the West and its Opponents, by David Gress; Free Press, 1998, $39.95.
David Gress believes that the "West" is under significant attack by those who would, or do, describe liberal democrats by the Australian term "economic rationalist". However, he considers that any threat to the West's social and economic pre-eminence from outside (as from the Asian tigers) is minimal. To him, the "West" includes all the liberal democracies and only Western societies meet the criteria for qualifying as liberal democracies.
His arguments regarding the welfare-creating qualities of liberal democracy are hardly A original. But, they are ...