SEIZE THE MOMENT
World Stability through Shared Values








In this book I show that what is generally denoted by International Norms today are Anglo-American and Western values that were generalized for the world through the United Nations mechanism. These norms were not sufficiently vetted across non-Western cultures. Many of the non-Western nations that were part of the UN at its inception, such as India and Egypt, had limited influence on the course of events. For example, Freedom of the Press is not understood in the same way in Japan, of Saudi Arabia, or Nigeria as it is in the US. The same is true with Women's Rights, Freedom of Religion, and the idea of Democracy.

The world now faces a changing geopolitical environment, one in which the values that had been universalized by the West may soon be questioned, revised, or ignored by an increasingly assertive non-Western world community.

Unlike 1945 when Britain could call on its American cousins to pick up the baton of world leadership, with the assurance that Western values would be sustained, we now face a world with no Western cousins to pick up the slack. America and the West are not powerless, but our influence is diminishing.

There is still time to manage the vetting and the change, if the West and other democracies will seize this moment to build i) a consensus on a range of values that are acceptable to the new international environment, and ii) acceptable ways in which these new values are experienced by ordinary citizens in each UN member state.

This book argues in favor of these changes and provides a mechanism by which these changes may be negotiated, implemented, and assessed.

The book is almost completed, and seeks a publisher. The intended audience is international.