Second, they must take stock of the ill effects of Western-led globalization. In regions that have not benefitted from globalization, including much of the Arab and Muslim world, and for Western populations resentful of the changes coinciding with increased economic and political openness, anti-liberal sentiment has become a contagion helping to fuel both militant jihadism and white-populist nationalism.

The West needs new long-term strategies to redress these ill effects globally and locally. These must include a new approach to development assistance abroad and a new appreciation of the right of all nation-states—including those in Europe—to protect the economic well-being of their own citizens and control migration flows within their own borders.

A little give on these issues will not harm the foundations of Western liberalism and would go a long way toward renewing its credibility for the current age. The West invented a political ideology based on innovation and re-imagination. These qualities are required now more than ever.

Stuart Gottlieb teaches American foreign policy and international security at Columbia University, where he is a member of the Saltzman Institute of War & Peace Studies. He formerly served as a foreign policy adviser and speechwriter in the United States Senate (1999-2003).

Image: Reuters.