New World Order Threatened by Populist and “Illiberal” Forces, Say Globalists

The world is facing a “post-truth, post-West, post-order” era fueled by the rise of populist and “illiberal forces” according to a report from the Munich Security Conference.
“The world is facing an illiberal moment. Across the West and beyond, illiberal forces are gaining ground,” said this year’s report from the Munich Security Conference. “From within, Western societies are troubled by the emergence of populist movements that oppose critical elements of the liberal-democratic status quo.”
The report blamed the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, the election of President Donald Trump, and the rise of Eurosceptic parties across Europe on a “cultural backlash” against “so-called ‘globalism.'”


“The main dividing line in politics runs less and less between left and right but between a liberal cosmopolitan pole and a populist (or even xenophobic authoritarian) one,” the report said. “Populist parties reject the cultural modernization in Western societies and revolt against what they perceive as threats to the nation, ranging from immigration and cosmopolitan elites to international institutions.”
Populist political candidates are “experts in the politics of agitation” who seek to create an “axis of fear” that “exploits insecurities and grievances of the electorate, often by twisting the facts or even by spreading outright lies that speak to the preconceptions of their supporters.”
Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, claimed the populist candidates running for office across Europe and the United States are in fact authoritarians who seek to overthrow Western democracies.
“Are we entering an era of illiberalism, where authoritarian governments are going to replace more and more traditional Western, value-based democracies? I think it is right for us to be concerned about this crisis, this decline of the West — the disappearance of the classic leadership nation of the West, the United States,” he said. “Is global governance coming apart at the seems? Do our international institutions work as they should be working? Look at the United Nations, look at NATO, look at the OSCE, which is desperately trying to help resolve the Ukraine conflict.”
“[There are] many questions regarding the stability of global governance, about the validity and the strength of the international system, of global order.”
The 53rd Munich Security Conference is set to take place between February 17-19, with Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary General James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly, and almost a dozen members of Congress set to represent the United States.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, European Council President Donald Tusk, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, more than 30 heads of state, and over 80 foreign and defense ministers are also expected to attend.
The Munich Security Conference was founded in 1963 as “Internationale Wehrkunde-Begegnung” by Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, a former member of the Wehrmacht who was part of the plot to assassinate Hitler at the Wolf’s Lair on July 20, 1944.