The managerialist elite no longer look like the solution to our woes, but the cause of many of them
Across the West, the technocratic establishment is struggling to keep the show on the road. Even as it gathers in Sharm el-Sheikh for the usual vigorous round of fire-and-brimstone sermonising, the ancien regime can barely conceal its ebbing power.
World leaders at Cop27 have exuded a sense of sheepishness rather than statesmanship, from reluctant guest Rishi Sunak – irksomely upstaged by Boris Johnson – to Germany’s Olaf Scholz, who is embroiled in a nasty showdown with eco-protesters at home. With the UN admitting that “no credible pathway” to hitting the 1.5C warming target is in place, the era of bolshy net-zero pledges has descended into a row over reparations. Even woke capitalism has lost its sheen: Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the event has added a farcical new layer to Cop’s theatrics. Greta Thunberg is boycotting the whole affair amid accusations of “green-washing”.
This Cop fiasco feels like a symbolic moment. Although “sensible” politicians are broadly in control across the West, having wrested back power from failed populists like Donald Trump, both their authority and aura of control are evaporating. It is increasingly clear to Western electorates that the managerialist, technocratic elite lacks the compelling answers to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change and inflation to immigration.
First, there is the basic, creeping realisation that the centrist heroes of the moment are painfully mortal. It is old hat that Joe Biden perfectly exemplifies the fading vim and coherence of American civilisation. But in Germany, too, the political class is wilting under pressure, as politicians take sick leave with anxiety, depression and tinnitus, complaining that they can no longer “meditate away the burdens”.