In the past few years sitting in the United States, Britain or in the European Union, we've been very

preoccupied by our own political and economic troubles. Part of that is a sense that all is not well

in Western democracies. Scholars have coined terms like a democratic

recession or Demosclerosis to suggest Western democracy is in trouble. Although we're still home to some of the richest and

most powerful countries in the world. But we may have missed a much bigger idea.

What if other parts of the world, India, China, Latin America, Africa, simply don't see the West, however

we come to define it, as so important anymore.

That at least is a key theme of a provocative and cleverly argued new book,

Westlessness, that the influence, indeed the relevance of the West is declining

and that this decline will continue.

Today we hear from the book's author and that this decline will continue.

Today we hear from the book's author and also hear of you from the United States.

I'm Gavin Etheler and this is not a drone. The decline of great powers is one of the world's oldest traditions.

The Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans, China, the British and others, all fretted about it.

The Americans have been doing it for decades too,

despite obvious Western and particularly American dominance in military

and economic terms.

But what if other countries in the world simply found the West,

roughly Western Europe, North America and other culturally similar countries,

less important in their lives than before.

That at least is the starting point of the new book

Westlessness from the Singapore-based author and scholar

...