ABSTRACT
The early twenty-first century has been marked by the coincidence of the rise of strongman leaders around the world alongside a series of existential crises, including climate change, a biodiversity crisis, severe environmental degradation, and nuclear weapons, that threaten humanity’s existence. This chapter argues that what unites the current wave of demagogues is their intent to destroy the positives of modernity – science and reason, tolerance of dissent, human rights and equality, and accountable democratic government – and exacerbate modernity’s core pathologies – violence; materialism and greed; and inequalities based on a hypermasculinity which denigrates love and care. In doing so, today’s wave of strongman leaders, with Vladimir Putin as their vanguard, are driving the world to destruction. Under these conditions, a new shared global narrative ‘beyond modernity’ is necessary for human survival. The chapter argues that the outlines of this narrative are already clear. It is a narrative that draws together the great threads of history – of human equality, of peace and non-violence, of love and care as pre-conditions for our survival, and of democracy as our defence against pathology. Most importantly, it is a narrative in which Putin and his fellow violently disordered minds must be written out.
