States, civilisations, and the reset of world order

This book evaluates the current state of world (dis)order at a time of growing populism, nationalism and pandemic panic. It distils the implications of the 'civilisational state' for world order. The retreat of US leadership is mirrored by the decline of both the material and normative liberal multilateral infrastructure it supported. Meanwhile, the rise of China as a putative hegemonic challenger is accompanied in political, economic and cultural terms by other emerging powers no longer bound to the norms of 20th century world affairs, notably Turkey, India, China and Russia. By emphasising a cultural lens of analysis alongside robust political and economic analysis, the author offers a prescriptive agenda for the coming post-pandemic age that recognises new powers of civilisational, state and hybrid non-state actors. Without overestimating their probabilities, he outlines prospects and preconditions for effective inter-civilisational dialogue and proposes a series of minimal conditions for a multilateral 'reset'. This book will appeal to the world's public and private decision-makers, the media, the educated lay public and civil society actors interested in the rise of civilisational politics and its possible consequences for world affairs. It will particularly interest students and researchers in such fields as politics, international relations, international political economy, geopolitics, strategic studies, foreign policy and social psychology.

This book evaluates the current state of world (dis)order at a time of growing populism, nationalism and pandemic panic. It distils the implications of the 'civilisational state' for world order. The retreat of US leadership is mirrored by the decline of both the material and normative liberal multilateral infrastructure it supported. Meanwhile, the rise of China as a putative hegemonic challenger is accompanied in political, economic and cultural terms by other emerging powers no longer bound to the norms of 20th century world affairs, notably Turkey, India, China and Russia. By emphasising a cultural lens of analysis alongside robust political and economic analysis, the author offers a prescriptive agenda for the coming post-pandemic age that recognises new powers of civilisational, state and hybrid non-state actors. Without overestimating their probabilities, he outlines prospects and preconditions for effective inter-civilisational dialogue and proposes a series of minimal conditions for a multilateral 'reset'. This book will appeal to the world's public and private decision-makers, the media, the educated lay public and civil society actors interested in the rise of civilisational politics and its possible consequences for world affairs. It will particularly interest students and researchers in such fields as politics, international relations, international political economy, geopolitics, strategic studies, foreign policy and social psychology.

Cover -- Endorsement -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Figures -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: States, Civilisations, Pandemics and Order -- The Structure of the Book -- Notes -- Part I States, Civilisations and World Order -- 1 Making Sense of Liberal International Order: Concepts and Context -- Conceptual Deck-Clearing: Order, Culture and Values -- Liberal Order and Beyond: the Argument in Brief -- A Little Bit of Economic Theory: Towards a New Mercantilism -- Notes -- 2 International Order, the US-China Relationship and Europe -- The Big Picture: Ideology Or Interest in the New Geopolitics? -- The US, China and the New Economic Warfare -- Coping With the Binary Divide: the EU and Its 'Existential' Crisis -- Conclusion: From Rules-Based Order to 'Fight Club'? -- Notes -- 3 Civilisational States and Regions: Actors Beyond a Western Liberal Order -- Impressions of Civilisational States -- The Philosophical Roots of Chinese Thinking On International Order -- China, Cultural Values and a Multilateral World -- Putting Cultural Ideals Into Practice -- Civilisational Discourse in Russian Geopolitical Thinking -- Ideological Transformation in the 20th Century and Its Influence On Russian Foreign Policy -- Russia in the 21st Century: Once Again Between West and East -- Turkey: a Europe-Asia Pivot? -- India: an Emerging Great Power? -- Hierarchical Relations in Southeast Asia -- Towards Eurasia? -- Notes -- 4 Challenges for World Order: Development, Ecology and Pandemics -- Development, Ecology and the Environment -- COVID-19 and Beyond: Pandemics and Global Order -- A Further Look at the US-China Relationship: the COVID-19 Factor -- Notes -- Part II A Post Pandemic World Order: Towards a Reset?.