bourgeoisie and thus launch the industrial era.
The current situation is quite different. The promoters of revolution are supported by external actors who offer them financial and digital means to weaken European democracies: their weapons are the tools of influence and no longer pitchforks and bayonets. Nevertheless, it is preferable that we do not go through the “revolution” box. The memories of this pathetic episode are still too vivid in our minds for the French to do it again.
It is only through the redesign of our institutions that we can achieve this. This overhaul cannot come from the institutions themselves. They must therefore be the result of collective reflection leading to a consensus. The movement is underway. Initiatives are flourishing. Popular consultations are finding a response. Of course, the responses are chaotic because we are not prepared for this approach. The systemic reality of the suggestions made by some and others is difficult to grasp, which leads to endless and therefore discouraging controversy.
In these debates, there are the hardcore activists, the skeptics, the ambitious, the idealists, the hardworking, etc. Those who only listen and those who only talk. But most of them share the same objective: to make Europe the renewed democracy that enters the 21st century with the will to seize the opportunities of the societal shift that is upon us: to bring about a new source of prosperity which, this time, will be centered on the development of the common good, contrary to the previous phase, which was essentially centered on the satisfaction of the primary needs of individuals.
Our children will say of us, as the saying goes, “They did it because they didn’t know it was impossible”.
In reality, this is possible via the communication tools that are now in the hands of the public. However, the public must be warned that the current social networks they use are not at their service, on the contrary, they are tools of “massive influence” and therefore capable of turning against their purpose through, in particular, their ability to spread fake news.
In Europe, the right to speak is respected, even if it is “contained”. We can rejoice in having a press that works.
However, before embarking on such an exciting but complicated exercise of “redesigning” our model of society, it is important to understand why our institutions are now suffering.
1 1 Editorial note: Unlike in North America, in Europe and Latin America the word liberalism means a moderate form of classical liberalism and includes both center-right conservative liberalism (right-liberalism) and center-left social liberalism (left-liberalism). In North America the word liberalism almost exclusively refers to social liberalism (left-liberalism). This book uses liberalism in the European sense.
2 2 Simple vocabulary in empty sentences.
3 3 There will always be a small piece of viable land for a few particularly resilient survivors.
4 4 “Action-reaction”: a change generates a reaction. Changes lead to destabilization.
5 5 Le Figaro, June 2017; Franceinfo, March 7, 2019.
6 6 “Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous”. This acronym was created by the American army in the 1970s. The idea, widely used in Hollywood films, suggests that, while the future is worrying, Uncle Sam is watching over this changing world.
7 7 Professor at the Collège de France.
8 8 The one where demand is higher than supply, typically after a war or a disaster.
9 9 A European program that allows students to go to universities other than their country of origin in order to promote openness to other cultures in the area.
10 10 Acronym: Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.
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