This culminated in the Iraq adventure, which was meant to be the first step towards the transformation of an entire region, an answer to the Islamist radicalism being spawned in authoritarian regimes through West Asia. The Iraq war confounded most ideological categories and shattered a lot of myths about the use of force as liberals found it hard to oppose a war that would remove a genocidal regime from power.

The idea that the democratisation of West Asia would be the best antidote to Islamist extremism seemed like an idea whose time had come. Yet today, the authoritarian regimes of the region — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria — are all stronger than before, with repression at an all-time high. Iran has emerged as the strongest power in the region, twiddling its thumbs at the impotence of the West in carrying out its threats over its nuclear programme and charting a foreign policy course that is more ambitious and radical than ever before. The liberal ideology of intervention has proved its limits, and is now confronted with a rapidly evolving reality.

Meanwhile, in the tradition of authoritarian regimes, the Chinese constructed a powerful pageant at the Olympics to boost officially sanctioned mass nationalism. It had been suggested in the West that the hosting of Olympics would ease China’s inevitable transition to a more open society. It is now clear that China’s Games instead hailed the success of an ideology in constructing a powerful state, restoring the nation’s sense of pride and greatness in passing.

... contd.