Around the turn of the 21st century, there arose many Western declinist literature in response to Fukuyama’s ‘End of history’ paper. As it merely discussed decline with concepts of economics and...Show moreAround the turn of the 21st century, there arose many Western declinist literature in response to Fukuyama’s ‘End of history’ paper. As it merely discussed decline with concepts of economics and international power, it could not explain ‘polarisation’, even while polarisation was in popular tongue often associated with democratic decline. While existing literature between polarisation and political decline only addresses direct democratic decline in small-N case studies, a framework for structural decline within the context of civilisations is needed to address Western decline. Nietzsche and Spengler both offer frameworks to analyse structural political decline within the West. Ultimately, the paper will conclude that there exists a positive relationship between polarisation and political decline, while it tries to make the conceptions of polarisation of Nietzsche and Spengler more contemporary. In the end, the paper states that more research is needed towards frameworks of decline and polarisation.Show less
