{"id":4212,"date":"2019-11-26T12:02:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T12:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:00:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T11:00:35","slug":"the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning","status":"publish","type":"kreisky_event","link":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning","title":{"rendered":"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance? In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only in the East but also back in the heartland of the West. Krastev and Holmes argue that the supposed end of history turned out to be only the beginning of an <em>Age of Imitation<\/em>. Reckoning with the history of the last thirty years, they show that the most powerful force behind the wave of populist xenophobia that began in Eastern Europe stems from resentment at the post-1989 imperative to become Westernised.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Ivan Krastev<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Political_Scientist\">political scientist<\/a>, chairman of the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Centre_for_Liberal_Strategies&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1\">Centre for Liberal Strategies<\/a><\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sofia\">Sofia<\/a>, Permanent Fellow at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Institut_f%C3%BCr_die_Wissenschaften_vom_Menschen\">IWM (<em>Institute of Human Sciences<\/em>)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vienna\">Vienna<\/a>, founding board member of the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/European_Council_on_Foreign_Relations\">European Council on Foreign Relations<\/a><\/em>, member of the board of trustees the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/International_Crisis_Group\">International Crisis Group<\/a>,<\/em> contributing <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Opinion_journalism\">opinion writer<\/a> for <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_New_York_Times\">The New York Times<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stephen Holmes,<\/strong> Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_York_University\">New York University<\/a>. Stephen Holmes's research centres on the history and recent evolution of liberalism and antiliberalism in Europe, the 1787 Constitution as a blueprint for continental expansion, the near-impossibility of imposing rules of democratic accountability on the deep state, the traumatic legacy of 1989, and the difficulty of combating jihadist terrorism within the bounds of the Constitution and the international laws of war.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Tessa Szyszkowitz<\/strong>, UK correspondent for <em>PROFILE<\/em>, <em>Butterfly<\/em>, <em>Cicero<\/em> and author of <strong><em>Real Englishmen<\/em><\/strong>, Picus Verlag, September 2018.<\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\nThe light that went out. A reckoning<\/em>. Ullstein hardcover with dust jacket, 368 pages<br \/>\n(<em>The Light that Failed<\/em>, translated from English by Karin Schuler)<br \/>\nISBN-13 9783550050695, 4 November 2019).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance? In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only in the East but also back in the heartland [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4213,"template":"","format":[29],"meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"schwerpunkt":[43],"class_list":["post-4212","kreisky_event","type-kreisky_event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schwerpunkt-internationale-politik-europa-und-sicherheit","format-podiumsdiskussion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Light that Failed. A Reckoning - Kreisky Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning - Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance? In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only in the East but also back in the heartland [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-03T11:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cover-5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning\",\"name\":\"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning - Kreisky Forum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/cover-5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-26T12:02:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-03T11:00:35+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/cover-5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/cover-5.jpg\",\"width\":440,\"height\":440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Veranstaltungen\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bruno Kreisky Forum\",\"description\":\"Bruno Kreisky Forum f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog\",\"alternateName\":\"BRUNO KREISKY FORUM f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning - Kreisky Forum","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning - Kreisky Forum","og_description":"Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance? In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only in the East but also back in the heartland [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning","og_site_name":"Kreisky Forum","article_modified_time":"2025-12-03T11:00:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":440,"height":440,"url":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cover-5.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning","url":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning","name":"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning - Kreisky Forum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cover-5.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-26T12:02:39+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-03T11:00:35+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cover-5.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/cover-5.jpg","width":440,"height":440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung\/the-light-that-failed-a-reckoning#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Veranstaltungen","item":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/veranstaltung"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Light that Failed. A Reckoning"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/","name":"Bruno Kreisky Forum","description":"Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue","alternateName":"BRUNO KREISKY FORUM f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/4212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/kreisky_event"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/4212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6788,"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/4212\/revisions\/6788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schwerpunkt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schwerpunkt?post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/format?post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}