There are important factors impacting policies, decisions and legislation in Western society. Perhaps the most important forces of change are the following:

1. Modern technology seriously threatens the labor market and has led to the dismissal of hundreds of thousands employed in the industrial sector. It also poses a threat to the privacy of citizens and can be used to influence democratic elections or attack the electronic infrastructure of banks and water and electricity companies.

2. The rise of China as an economic power will soon make that country the largest economy in the world. However, China’s authoritarianism, suppression of liberties and communist rule are values ​​contrary to those promoted by the political system in the West. US President Richard Nixon and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, along with Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping were the reason for China’s breakthrough and why the country is where it is today.

3. Western society is aging which will have serious implications for the cost of medical treatment, health insurance, the immigration system, education, employment, training, competitiveness and creativity, making this issue a central and existential challenge. There is a need to ask tough questions and a willingness to accept difficult answers to them.

4. Climate change and severe and repeated heat waves in Europe and North America have now become a reality affecting public opinion despite strong opposition from the right-wing political camp or voices in the business sector, which fear the consequences of the economic cost of preventive measures to deal with the challenge.

here are also voices in religious organizations that reject the idea that the “human creature can affect the creation of the Creator”, which is one argument advocated by the extreme Christian right on climate change. However, the issue is being very seriously considered by parliaments, media and civil organizations and non-governmental organizations who are advocating for harsh legislation to “protect the planet” from human excesses.

While all of these factors are of concern to the West, they will affect the entire world, because of their influence on global politics. For example, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently made a clear statement against China, saying: “China is seeking international hegemony and must be confronted.”

China is indeed rivaling Western technology, which accuses it of stealing ideas, and China is a competing force that seriously threatens the interests of the Western camp. China’s enormous population threatens a society that is aging in the West, and those fighting against climate change accuse China of being one of the most dangerous polluters on the planet.