19 September 2024
I discussed with SL Kanthan on GD the demise of US hegemony and the emergence of a mulitpolar world. The multipolar world is already here, although the reluctance to adjust to new realities fuels conflicts around the world.
A key problem in the West now is the lack of political imagination to address the new political realities in the world. For the first time in centuries, the West will no longer be in a position to lead the world. This is a devastating challenge for Western leader who emerged after the Cold War as they believed this was the “end of history”, in which the world would unite under liberal democracy and the leadership of the collective West in perpetuity.
It should concern us that none of our leaders can envision or want to discuss the role of the West in a multipolar world in which non-Western centres of power should have an equal say. The first and only instinct is to retreat into bloc politics with the goal of defeating other centres of power so we can return to the “normal” order of Western dominance. We tend to normalise and legitimise this confrontational approach to international affairs by framing the power struggle as a moral struggle of liberal democracy versus authoritarianism.
Yet, the US is not able to roll back the technological and economic rise of China, and NATO is not able to defeat Russia militarily, economically or isolate it internationally. All the efforts to restore unipolarity are weakening the West and intensifying the efforts by the rest of the world to develop of a new international economic infrastructure that reflect multipolar realities.
What will the West do? Adjust to the new realities and explore the opportunities of the new international distribution of power, or retreat further into the bunker mentality and believing that the glorious past can be restored in a great final showdown?
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