Against Decolonisation: Campus Culture Wars and the Decline of the West
Following the killing of George Floyd in 2020, a moral panic gripped the US and UK. To atone for an alleged history of racism, statues were torn down and symbols of national identity attacked. Across universities, fringe theories became the new orthodoxy, with a cadre of activists backed by university technocrats adopting a binary worldview of moral certainty, sin and deconstructive redemption through Western self-erasure.
This hard-hitting book surveys these developments for the first time. It unpacks and challenges the theories and arguments deployed by 'decolonisers' in a university system now characterised by garbled leadership and illiberal groupthink. The desire to question the West's sense of itself, deconstruct its narratives and overthrow its institutional order is an impulse that, ironically, was underpinned by a more confident and assured Western hegemony, which is now waning and under great strain. If its light continues to dim, who or what will carry the torch for human freedom and progress?
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Doug Stokes is the Director of the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter, a Fellow at the Legatum Institute and an Advisory Council member for the Free Speech Union. His writings on academic freedom and culture wars have appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Critic, The Spectator and other international outlets. Follow him online @profdws or at www.dougstokes.net.
A TLS Book of the Year 2023
'incisive, humane and brave'
Times Literary Supplement
'Doug Stokes's book forensically dissects the ideas and practices concerning race, equality, identity and grievance, which are having such an explosive impact on our intellectual and cultural life. Whatever one's sentiments and sympathies, this is a concise and lucid guide to what lies behind the "culture war".'
Robert Tombs, University of Cambridge
'A highly insightful and persuasive contribution to the ongoing global debate about race, equality and decolonisation, going far beyond the walls of academia into wider institutions and the international world order.'
Munira Mirza, former head of the No. 10 Policy Unit and CEO of Civic Future
'Doug Stokes's incisive analysis of the threat posed by critical theory to wider society, particularly the universities, should stand at the top of every reading list about racism, gender and attempts to "decolonise" the curriculum.'
David Abulafia, University of Cambridge
'Perhaps books like this one will encourage more academics to summon up the courage to resist the bullying and to challenge the new conformity. Not everyone will agree with them. But everyone who truly cares about truth will welcome the opening up of a debate which the universities have largely foreclosed.'
Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator
'Stokes has just struck a match; the result may well be explosive.'
The Critic
'an excellent book that can shock as well as inspire'
Graeme Kemp, The Equiano Project
