Emerging World Order: The rise of the Rest

History has witnessed the downfall of more than 200 Empires as powerful as the

British Empire which ruled more than half of the world and it was said that the sun never sets

on the British Empire. The US supported by its war economy and defended by two oceans

won’t be an exception at least in terms of giving direction to international politics.

Unipolarity, if it still exists, is day by day reaching an end but still, it’s hard to anticipate the

time of its termination. Fighting costly wars combined with the rise of economic giants like

China, EU, and Resurgent Russia has undoubtedly given a setback to US hegemony and

hence, posing a challenge to unipolarity.

To forecast the upcoming trends of international politics, debate on the emerging

world order becomes pertinent to be brought under discussion. The US under Trump

administration is dragging itself in another costly proxy war with Iran which will bring no

less than hundreds of billions of dollars loss for the US as happened in Afghanistan and Iraq.

What good the wars bring with them other than lessons to learn and what if someone doesn’t

even learn the lesson? History makes this argument more conspicuous as one examines the

France of post World War II. France was the victor bus so heavily damaged and financially

broken that it took decades for France to stand again.

The question arises whether there is any single country to replace the US in global

politics as the sole superpower. The answer is still no. In terms of military presence all over

the world and maintaining the world’s largest economy, the US is still the strongest player in

world politics. But a significant decrease in US influence has appeared in different regions of

the world. China is claiming its superiority in the East China Sea while the annexation of

Crimea by Russia depicts the country struggling to regain its lost identity, at least in Eastern

Europe. Another scale to measure the relative importance of countries is their economic
independence. The ever-growing globalization and increasing trade between countries make

it less likely that major powers would now confront each other directly. Instead, proxy wars

are now used as a tool to coerce the adversary which renders nuclear weapons less important.

Financial stability and economic power both are going to play a crucial role in the

emerging world order. With the rise of countries like China, India and Brazil and economic

blocs like EU, ASEAN, and NAFTA, it appears that multipolarity or multilateralism are

going to replace unipolarity in world politics. China is emerging with an economy that is

greater than many other regional blocs. Furthermore, the Chinese strategy of development has

been welcomed by the almost whole world and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) alone

involves more than 152 countries into it. So, here comes China which has outplayed the even

US in the East China Sea. Russia, under the leadership of Putin, is struggling to re-establish

its lost status and transform into a country with promising economic opportunities. Modi’s

India, though involved in internal political/ideological conflicts, is still thriving on the global

screen as one of the attractive locations for economic investments because of its huge market.

Additionally, India’s aspiration to police the whole Indian Ocean without ‘interference’ poses

a challenge to the US concept of the Blue-Water Navy. Putting the economy aside, US

hegemony is facing challenges in a growing multipolar world on the military front from the

countries with whom the US is undergoing more than trillions of dollar bilateral trade.

As globalization has increased connectivity and bilateral trade, the economic interests

of countries have become increasingly interlinked with each other. Specifically, the countries

co-existing in a region are so dependent on each other that they can’t afford a direct conflict

with others. The regional and inter-regional economic blocs and their partnerships with other

countries have opened new arenas of cooperation and collaboration. The emergence of

ASEAN, BRICS, EU and continental parliamentary assemblies shows a different approach of

dealing with world affairs, hence paving the way to multilateralism. Economy and trade
being the central agenda with supranational organizations being the major players might be

holding the international politics in the coming times.

Whatever the relations the countries have with each other, today there is a dire need to

understand that as we reach the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, we are

increasingly facing transnational threats transcending the boundaries of countries that require

joint actions to be countered. Climate change, endemic diseases, forest fires, terrorism are all

such issues that are or would be faced by every country alike. Hence, the coming world order,

may it be multipolarity or multilateralism needs to bring with it dynamic and sensible

political leadership having the capability of working together and driving this globe out of the

threats which it faces today.