Following the killing of George Floyd in 2020, a moral panic gripped the US and UK. To atone for an alleged history of racism, statues were torn down and symbols of national identity attacked. Across universities, fringe theories became the new orthodoxy, with a cadre of activists backed by university technocrats adopting a binary worldview of moral certainty, sin, and deconstructive redemption through Western self-erasure. In his hard-hitting new book, Prof. Stokes surveys these developments for the first time. He unpacks and challenges the theories and arguments deployed by ‘decolonizers’ in a university system now characterized by garbled leadership and illiberal groupthink. The desire to question the West’s sense of itself, deconstruct its narratives, and overthrow its institutional order is an impulse that, ironically, was underpinned by a more confident and assured Western hegemony, which is now waning and under great strain. If its light continues to dim, who or what will carry the torch for human freedom and progress? Professor Doug Stokes, Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter, and author of the new book “Against Decolonisation: Campus Culture Wars & The Decline of the West” speaks with Peter Whittle, director of The New Culture Forum.
