Tome at a time by Amitav Acharya, which teaches global affairs in American University, Washington, DC, One more future world system Not about a peaceful world but attracts historical examples to express a vigilant optimism feeling about a more inclusive.
A broader, not geography on history, the book reaches deep into the past world and then rotates in tomorrow’s world. To that extent, it is not as much about the contemporary flow or major power competition as it is about the future order in which there is more and more agency for outdoor nations with the decline of the West, called “rest”. They closely approximate today’s global south and go by heritage labels such as the G -77 and non -united.
Acharya’s introduction is a clearly written essay that captures the unqualified world historically by myths of Western supremacy. He said that the West himself has contributed to instability, injustice and disorder that we see around us today. His suggestion is deeply irony that the west decline, in fact, some of these challenges are likely to reduce.
The prosecution here is that the western-prone orders which have been in existence for some centuries, were now cured of domination, subjugation and exploitation by a colonial concert, never a gentle by many scholars and historians in the West. Even the formal global order represented by the Treaty-based United Nations System established in 1945 is rarely egalitarian, even if the United Nations Charter advocates equality. The author tells a dark truth about the Versay Conference. When negotiations were going on for the establishment of the United Nations, US President Woodrow Wilson, apparently with the support of both Britain and Australia, opposed the insertion of the “racial equality” section proposed by Japan. He also did this because he was promoting democracy and self -determination around the world.
The book examines the concept of world system and the concept of order and chaos. The world system, as Acharya said, was never unbroken in the previous ages. There were many orders in the ancient and old world, whether it was seen through time -only or geography. Acharya takes Pathak on a informative and fact-filled journey in Sumerian, Greek and Roman as well as Indian, Chinese, Islamic, Meso-American and South American civilizations. Many of them attracted the knowledge and knowledge of their historical predecessors or contemporaries, which they did. Acharya sees the world system that once a common creation. There was a danger of spreading between earlier civilizations. All of them now contributed to the development of globally sanctioned social, political, economic and cultural systems. Africa also had to play the role. The author feels that today, we incorrectly explain the principles of governance, democratic institutions and law rule as a gift of Western civilization, while they often arise, and were cleverly through practice in older civilizations.
In the chapter WestThe author denies the imperialism of historian Niel Ferguson and distinguishes his principle of “six killer apps”, which facilitated the rise of Europe. The author argues that these factor, IE, competition, science, property rights, medical, consumer society and work morality, need to be closely investigated, because these characteristics of Western domination, similarly, had their perfection in old civilizations.
The author states that the old orders were many, and many were defined by a geographical identity. The order, often imposed by the empires, remain co -existence with chaos elsewhere beyond their places, and are persistent with disqualification of time. Today, the current world system has been seriously challenged. The United Nations really represents the global system that the world has known. Today it has 193 members; The way it was more than 51 when it was established in 1945. Nevertheless, it has failed to improve and adjust significant changes in the balance of power since 1945. Continuous Western domination has eliminated extraordinaryness. The vested interests of the privileged permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have prevented any meaningful reforms such as expansion of permanent membership of UNSC.
Acharya questions Fukuyama’s “End of History” idea that suggests Western liberalism that it is the altar of social and political development. He claims that the future order will have to be one Modas vivendi Between America, China and the rest.
Through many interesting chapters to find out the history and achievements of the ancient world, the writer does not hesitate to question the long -standing beliefs. For example, Helenization, which means the spread of Greek culture, was hardly a beetfict phenomenon. This was performed by the Greek colonies, through war and violence. Roman democracy, such as Greek democracy, was not really, Utopian. It was limited to the elite and co -existence with comfort and wider regional expansion.
The chapter of India is very interested. As Acharya sees, two opposite routes came out of ancient India to organize a world system. The first was through cruel war and imperialism. This was the path taken by Ashoka before the Kalinga War, and second, through morality, philanthropic rule and the peaceful residence of the opponent, in the post -Kalinga of the Emperor. Non -violence Darshan from Buddhism. It also resonates with the teachings of Mahavira, Gautama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi.
Acharya’s book provides a stimulant alternative story for standard discourse about modern civilization to develop in the West. Certainly, what is striking is how much control the writing and interpretation of the history of the world is still in the West. The author clearly stated that the 20th century Geneva conferences underlined the principles that control enmity, which actually draw, almost word, from the code mentioned from the code mentioned, almost words. Manusmati Two thousand years ago in India. In the same vein, Vasudhiv Kutumbakam From Maha Upanishad Prior to the modern perception of a global comment of nations by about three millennia.
Acharya has also dissected the Chinese ideal TianxiaMeaning harmony and order under the sky. Some people would argue that today, China’s call for the establishment of “a community with a common future”, riding on the back of acute unity and Hubis, is actually about Chinese centrality in emerging global order.
The American World Order, which is associated with Liberal International Order, is gradually giving way to new impulses. Future order, Acharya Hey, will be multi-citizen. This will not be dominated by a single nation or group of nations. It is expected to be a multi -polar world. He calls it “a global multiplex” that will have an agency to shape nations, Big tech and business, non-government groups, even individuals in shaping events and results.
It is not easy to give or make a new order. The current one was built at the cost of a world war. The problem with the current order is that it has been given the basis of a treaty, which enables the permanent membership club in the United Nations Security Council to eliminate privileges, and provides it impregnable for external calls for change. In Cairo (1943) and Potsdam (1945) conferences, “rest”, as Acharya labeled him, he was allowed the United Nations charter, but accepted permanent membership for some in the UNSC to pay a price for it, as forever as a world order custodian.
On that note, a single wonder is whether the author is not optimistic in adding the vision of the more inclusive world. Today, without a level playground today, especially decision making and deep-tech, access to data and artificial intelligence, Acharya’s future orders, current one can be the best, the best can be oligopolistic, and the worst, diardic. In fact, there will probably be not one but two future orders: the “standard order” will be defined by a stable United Nations and attendant structures; “Embractive order”, as characterized by the rise and eb, will receive potency. It is in this uncertain place that India is trying to emerge as a reliable power, although not attracting the IRE of the privileged powers, as one of the oldest and longest “living civilization”.
Sujan Chinoy, a former ambassador, is the Director General of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis; The views expressed are individual.
