The west must start living up to its ideals

Commentary feature. The author writes 'The fall of Lehman Brothers nearly two years ago and the more recent near-collapse of the euro mark a new chapter of history, one entitled 'the post-western world'. To understand what it means to live in such a world, we must first look back to the pre-western one, before Britain conquered India and before China went into decline. This was followed by more than two centuries in which the west lived next to an 'other' it considered inferior. That period is now over'.