The Geopolitics of Morality - Good Times Bad Times (The 20s Report)

Morality plays a central role in shaping international relations, with values such as freedom, human rights, and self-determination driving geopolitical outcomes.

- Geopolitical Shifts Since the 1990s: The liberal international order, once led by the U.S., has eroded due to internal U.S. social decay, China’s rise fueled by globalized manufacturing, and Europe’s failure to unify strategically — culminating in today’s fragmented, competitive global landscape.

- Germany’s Role in Europe’s Decline: Germany, alongside France, failed to build a truly cooperative EU, instead pursuing narrow national interests (e.g., Nord Stream, offshoring tech to China, energy policy failures), undermining trust and turning Europe into a “geopolitical pushover.”

- Moral Progress vs. Technological Advance: Human morality has advanced empirically (e.g., abolition of slavery, women’s rights), but it lags far behind economic and technological growth — creating dangerous imbalances, as seen in nuclear weapons and modern warfare.

- Values as Geopolitical Force: Ukraine’s resilience proves that shared values (freedom, self-determination) can outweigh military hardware — and that systems like China’s, which prioritize control over liberty, pose a long-term threat by seeking to export authoritarianism.

- Collective Moral Responsibility: Societies, not just leaders, shape geopolitics — moral decay enables aggression (e.g., WWII, current tensions). Western hesitation to fully support Ukraine reflects a failure of collective moral will, not just policy.

- Hope Through Institutional Morality: Norway exemplifies how nations can channel wealth ethically — building sovereign funds, social equity, and global solidarity — proving that moral restraint and smart institutions can create durable, prosperous, and principled societies.