The end of ‘pax Americana’ and the crisis of the West as an opportunity

The coming to power in the United States of Donald Trump seems to have changed thein a sudden and perhaps irreversible manner the international geopolitical scenario. It seems to have arrived the end of the ‘pax Americana’of that world order born after the Second World War which made the West a bulwark against chaos where the war had become an ancient memory and trade prospered, in a political context which however excluded a part of the world (from Russia to China, from Africa to South America).

Is it really like that? Actually no, also because the starting assumption is wrong. Amitav Acharya, Distinguished Professor at the American University in Washington, DC, is convinced of this ex presidente della International Studies Associationone of the leading scholars of international relations.

‘History and future of the world order’

In the essay ‘History and future of the world order‘ (Fazi editore, pages 529; Price: 24 euros) just released, Acharya claims that the decline of the West can pave the way for more centers of power and a more equitable structurein which the rest of the world has greater voice and responsibility and invites us to learn from the past and to cooperate with the new powers to forge a shared order.

The need to change perspective

To understand the world of today and of the coming years, the author underlines from the beginning, we must try to change perspective. We Westerners are convinced that world order has always been a question concerns exclusively the so-called Westwhich then coincides with the European continent and North America. A geopolitical status that had three moments in which order reigned (“hergemonic stability”): the pax Romana from the first century BC to the first century AD, the England’s dominion over the seas in the nineteenth century and the so-called pax Americana after the Second World War. Yet this vision of History is very limited and is the cause, Acharya points out, of the fears of us Westerners faced with the new scenario that we are facing.

The world order in five thousand years of history

This is why in the first part of the book the author looks back five thousand years of history to show how a world order existed well before the rise of the West. According to Acharya, it is we Westerners who believe that the world order referred to Europe and America were supporters in eighty years it is the only bulwark against chaos. The author claims instead that since the dawn of the 21st century the West appears to be in decline. Wars, recurring economic crises, political instability and the rise of new great powers – in particular China, alongside other actors increasingly assertive – they question the Western-led world order. Many fear global chaos. But it is an illusion to believe that the West holds a monopoly on the political architecture it makes possible cooperation and peace between nations.

The decline of the West does not mean a return to chaos

Retracing five thousand years of human events, Amitav Acharya shows that a world order existed long before of the rise of the West. From Sumeria and Egypt to India and Greece, up to Mesoamericapassing through the medieval caliphatesthe Eurasian empires and Africa, humanitarian values, economic interdependencies and norms of conduct emerge between States that have established themselves in different areas of the planet.

History reveals that order does not coincide with the domination of a single pole: it is a plural texture that is recomposed, integrates new actors and renegotiates hierarchies. Hence the central thesis of the book: even if the West retreats, order endures. Its decline does not portend the end of global civilizationbut paves the way for more centers of power and a more equitable structure, in which the ‘rest’ of the world have greater voice and responsibility.

The West learns to collaborate with the new powers

Instead of giving in to fear, Acharya calls on the West to learn from the past and to cooperate with the new powers to forge a shared order, capable of facing common challenges – wars, energy security, inequalities – without falling back into conflicts between blocks. Beyond conventional geopolitical interpretations, ‘History and future of the world order’ offers the necessary historical perspective to understand the present and orient ourselves in the world to come.

The end of Western hegemony

“History is not a continuous thread of progress that leads to victory of a civilization or an order world in particular, be it created by the West or by others – writes Acharya – the end of one History gives rise to another. And the story that is rapidly coming to an end before our eyes is the relatively short one ofWestern hegemony in the long run of civilization. History is now advancing in a completely new direction: post-Western, multicivilizational and geopolitically plural,” he adds, underlining that the main lesson of this book is the following: “the world order is not a monopoly of the West, but shared work of multiple civilizations throughout history”, a consideration that today inevitably opens up new possibilities for the future which, he explains, “we must welcome and cultivate as if it were a new and repeated creation, a world brought to light anew.”