Ermanno Vitale, “The Dispersed West. The Poisoned Apple of Oriental Despotism”

What is despotism today? And why is despotism threatening liberal democracies again?

In Western culture, despotism, that is, political power analogous to that which the master exercises over the slaves, has been the form of government proper for centuries to Asian or Eurasian empires – a form opposed to moderate government, which would complete its architecture in the European constitutional democracies of the second half of the twentieth century.

In the dark and chaotic era passage we are facing, this “masterpiece of legislation” is once again challenged by the great empires that aim to sink constitutional democracies and design a new global order in their image and likeness.

The abandonment of a wishful cosmopolitanism as well as nationalistic remnants in favour of a rapid process of transformation of the institutions of the European Union in a federal sense is the narrow door through which we must pass in order to save, at least in Europe, liberal democracy.

Ermanno Vitale (1958) trained in Turin under Norberto Bobbio and Michelangelo Bovero. He taught Political Philosophy at the University of Sassari until 2008 and subsequently at the University of Valle d’Aosta as a full professor.

Università Series

A paperback and e-book series published by Intra.

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• Publication date: 15 luglio 2026
• Language: Inglese
• Print length: 109 pagine
• ISBN-13: 979-1259918826
• Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Dimensions: 6 x 0.25 x 9 inches
• Price: (US) $ 17,50 (paperback) (IT) € 16,00 (paperback)

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