ABSTRACT
As the former colonies of Western powers such as France and Britain gained independence after the Second World War, they faced the dilemma of how to escape poverty and catch up to the more economically advanced European and North American countries. Most were told that they needed to “modernize” by accepting an entire package of economic, technological, social, and cultural reforms, primarily ones modeled on the United States. But by now, almost 80 years later, politicians, economists, and purveyors of culture are successfully challenging the Western model of what it means to be modern and how to get there. The failures and difficulties of Western countries, coupled with the striking advances of nations such as South Korea, China, Singapore, and even India, have led many observers to conclude that the Western way of life and the model of modernization it embodies have gone bankrupt. In particular, it is often said that the Western countries have not found a way to establish just, sustainable, and inclusive governance; therefore, critics add, the world needs to find fundamentally different models of development, culture, and political legitimacy.
