Westlessness: A Fascinating Exploration of World Politics - for fans of Sathnam Sanghera and Tim Marshall

by Samir Puri

What if the sun truly is setting on the Western world's outsized influence over the rest of the planet?

In Westlessness, Dr Samir Puri vividly demonstrates how in demographic, economic, military and cultural terms, we are hurtling into a far more diverse global future. Many of our certainties about the present, built on centuries of massive Western global impact, are increasingly fragile. Untold wealth is moving from the West to the East, as nations like India and Indonesia are set to reach new heights of growth and confidence. And China continues its ascent to the peak of the economic mountain - but are cracks appearing? And will the Western world, under the aegis of US global military, economic, technological and cultural power, give up its privileged position willingly?

Nothing is linear and nothing is predictable. Are we prepared, personally and professionally, for a far more diverse global future?

Prepared or unprepared, Westlessness is essential reading for us all.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

389 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 25, 2024

Reviews

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Westlessness looks at the slow decline of the "West" in relation to the rest of the world.

Some of the reported areas are obvious, and anyone who keeps up to date with current events can see for themselves. The shrinking of the US role as world policeman, the loss of manufacturing wholescale to the East and the ever-increasing competition to the US space programme are examples, as is the rise of apps like TikTok, plus many other things. Other areas anyone can see if you know where to look but a lot of people are oblivious to, such as demographics, where the West has been forecast to shrink in size in comparison to the rest of the world for decades, but most people seem unaware.

There are lots of other things though that I didn't know. Living in the West and very rarely going outside of it makes it very difficult to really understand the rest of the world. Europe is hard enough to keep up with - never mind China, India and Africa. The author has a foot in both camps, through family and work, but grew up in the UK.

The rest of the world though really seems too disparate and disconnected to challenge the West as they are just not working as well together as the English-speaking world and Western Europe does or did. BRICS, the Global South are very loose organisations, only really united in the fact that they are not the West.

Sport wasn't covered at all, but is a classic example of Westlessness. The IPL is cricket's biggest league, and football clubs in places Saudi, China and Japan pay some of the top wages and are playing an increasing role in today's world. 20 years ago it was very different.

Demographics alone means the West will inevitably cease to be so prominent. A more level playing field is partly just regression to mean, no civilization dominates the world forever, and Asia is where most people live. America will never return to the 1950s, despite the desires of the MAGA Republicans to turn back the clock. Here in the UK we were once top dog but have become accustomed to a lesser role in world affairs, but we can still be proud of our history and we still punch above our weight.

All in all, an interesting read with some good insights that took me out of my Anglocentric bubble for a bit, and made me think about the wide world and where it is heading.

[Oliver Stelling · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great to read ‘Westlessness’ right after joining the book launch in Melbourne/Australia. I was very impressed by Dr. Samir Puri’s points of view. And as expected, the book teaches, persuades and informs effectively about a more diverse global future shaped by economics, demographics, militaries, and cultures.
As he explains, there will be less of the West in the world as Asia emerged as the world’s largest continent. Yet the question for the West is not about collapse but sharing power. While China, the world’s second largest economy, currently competes for global influence, it is keeping its own doors closed to outside influences. Yet in the future world, all nations must seek to forge new and deeper relationships with other countries worldwide. That means that openness remains a top priority for gaining more influence around the globe. In view of that, all global leaders, practitioners, educators and students must pay more attention to International Affairs, which are now more complex.
The book’s Preface addresses what Westlessness is. The following parts deliver chapters with deep insights about the Westfull World, People (incl. Entertainment, Identity, Politics, and more), Hard and Soft Power (incl. World Currencies, Moral Force, Hemispheres of Influence, and more), the Planet (incl. Friendly Shores, New Frontiers, and more), and the Path Ahead. All this makes ‘Westlessness’ a very interesting read. I highly recommend this excellent book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Westlessness is an eye catching title. The West is not disappearing at all. Rather, its importance is going to decrease relatively. Everything is now more globalised, including economic and technological advancement. China is famously ahead in clean energy and robotic man’s electric vehicle manufacturing, and container ship manufacturing. International cuisine can be found in any major cities. Culturally, Hollywood still reign supreme, but other countries are catching up. Labubu dolls are becoming are world wide craze.

The West is going to shrink demographically, and thus risk getting into decreased relevance if immigration is not encouraged.

The non-West world will trade with each other more, and even total economic sanction by the West cannot completely crush a country such as Russia because viable alternatives now exist.

Surely America first policies are going to hasten the process of Westlessness because it will simply decrease the demand from tariffs.

[J R Drinkwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting but too many statistics

Reads rather like a academic treatise without real insight into the subject. Should have been more thought provoking i think.

[parareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

#WESTLESSNESS : The Great Global Rebalancing by Dr Samir Puri. I didn’t expect to be riveted by a book on geopolitics but here we are.

Samir Puri’s Westlessness takes this weird, slightly sci-fi-sounding word and turns it into a super insightful lens on what’s actually happening in the world right now. 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑 : The West isn’t collapsing, but it’s definitely no longer calling all the shots. And that shift? It’s messy, fascinating, and surprisingly hopeful.

The 3️⃣ Things:

🧡 𝓐𝓷 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓾𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭
As I go through the pages, the writer doesn’t do panic or preach. He explains. He reflects. He asks great questions. The book starts with the definition of westlessness and current situation with the world today. It flows and very intriguing.

🧡 𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝓼𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓽, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓼𝓾𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮.
It’s like chatting with a really sharp friend who also happens to be a former diplomat. From its origin to all factors such as politics, demographic, entertainment, lingua franca, and of course the world economics. I didn’t feel any burden reading all the facts that he’s trying to prove.

🧡 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓦𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓘𝓼 𝓢𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷𝓽, 𝓙𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓝𝓸𝓽 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻.
He paints a future where the West is still relevant, just not the main character. He anticipates the future: not with predictions, but with a roadmap of possibilities. He doesn’t present the West as obsolete, but as one actor among many in a truly multipolar era. That framing feels not only accurate but essential.

Would I recommend it? 𝐘𝐄𝐒! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
If you’re even mildly curious about global power shifts, or why the world feels kind of upside-down right now, this book will seriously deliver. It’s sharp, balanced, and oddly comforting in its clarity. Thank you @definitelybooks and Izah for the copy. #parareads #pansing #westlessness #samirpuri #bookstagram

[Umberto Profazio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gli sconvolgimenti geopolitici degli ultimi anni hanno spinto molti a ripensare il concetto di Occidente ed a dubitare della sua supremazia economica e militare in un mondo sempre più multipolare. Da avuto osservatore, Samir Puri ha tratto ispirazione per un volume ambizioso e corroborato da numerosi dati ma anche facilmente comprensibile grazie ad una serie di aneddoti che evidenziano lo smarrimento di fronte all’ascesa di altre potenze, preludio ad un nuovo mondo che comporterà come sempre rischi ed opportunità.

[Ahmad Ziade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Broad and well researched but lacks depth. Author had an opportunity to write something much more interesting.

[Rick D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strikes a good balance between academic and accessible. Meaty enough to be worthy of its massive topic. It examines the speed at which parts of the world are catching up with the West, after centuries of the Western countries being far ahead (and further in the past, colonising parts of the world). The book's approach is thematic, moving through different aspects of what this 'Great Global Rebalancing' (as per the subtitle) comprises of.

Pros: It was a very readable summer book, finished it in a few days, and still felt like I had been on a journey into looking into the changing world. Not an angry 'revenge on the west' book, which I prefer, so the tone was agreeable.

Cons: I might have preferred an even more academic approach at some points with deeper data analysis of economic and other trends (eg. the author cites data from Piketty and others on ch11 doesn't do the data-crunch himself). But the danger of a data heavy book is that it takes months to wade through, so it depends on what kind of read you are after.

Taking another example, this is a more literary book than Ray Dalio's recent one, which was also data-heavy, so again it depends on preferences.

Overall: highly recommended. Guaranteed to force you to think. Surprising that there aren't more books like this out there with this approach, so credit where it is due for being original and not obsessed only with China-USA (like so many other takes).

[Roland Glotzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book discussing how the West was propelled to become a “leader” of the world and the trends that reduce the importance of the West nowadays and in the future. It reviews these trends in terms of demographics, entertainment. Politics, economies, policing, currencies, influence, trade, etc.. and makes the reader aware of how these trends are likely to affect us.
However I only gave 4 stars to the book because in discussing these trends particularly in the fields of demographics, economies, currencies, etc.. the many numbers quoted would have been much more meaningful if they had been backed up by graphs (as a picture is worth a thousand words).
A small comment on semantics is that the author uses interchangeably the terms population and populace : in my view they are not synonyms, the word populace referring to a group of people as the “ common people” as opposed to the elite.

[Misrab · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun pop read to challenge one's thinking about the global geoecosociopolitical landscape and drill in some memes over and over again. Reasonably well written.

That said, be ready for a _ton_ of platitudes and repetition. This book is very information-light. Mainly for entertainment purposes. But somewhat entertaining indeed.

[Jesse Parvess · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent telling of the current geopolitical dynamics at play. The only irritation is a prevailing liberal identity politics undercurrent and a very biased portal of Russia's invasion of the Ukraine (which is quite ironic in this case as the book failed dismally to portray their perspective for a blatant anti-western move).

[Mairead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitive

[Ella Okko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent coverage of key areas and perspectives into "waning Western power" - but not particularly insightful or innovative in its analysis.

[irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

good warning, from a man with a clear disdain for western imperialism

[Eugene Shcherbinin · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely book - Samir's background, a Londoner of Indian heritage, seeing the war in Ukraine unfold on the frontlines and now being in Singapore, gives a great perspective of a westerner navigating an increasingly westless world. gives you a lot of thought as to your own place in this picture

[Ty Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the author goes to great lengths to convince you of their "could be vision", the monotonous relentlessness gets in the way of seeding anything other than a die-hard attempt to persuade you of their opinion. The facts are interesting, the delivery is conceited, and eventually the rhetoric becomes so obvious it's tiresome.