CHAPTER 19 – WORLD ORDER AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY WORLD ORDER
The ‘new world order’ and its fate
- During the cold war period – two power blocks – USA and USSR (east vs west)
o Two rival military alliances – NATO vs Warsaw Pact
- World order → the distribution of power between and amongst states and other key
actors, giving rise to a relatively stable pattern of relationships and behaviours
- Bipolarity → the tendency of the international system to revolve around two poles
(major power blocs)
- Superpower → power that is greater than the traditional great power
o USA and former USSR
o Characteristics
▪ 1. Global reach
▪ 2. Predominant economic and strategic role in the world
▪ 3. Military capacity (nuclear weapons)
- End of Cold war – liberal internationalism → towards a new world order (Gorbachev)
- Wider use of humanitarian intervention (such as one in Kosovo)
- Humanitarian intervention – when justified
o 1. Gross abuses of human rights
o 2. Threats to security of neighbouring states
o 3. Absence of democracy weakens the principle of national self-determination
o 4. Diplomatic means have been exhausted
- Criticism of humanitarian intervention
o Violation of state sovereignty
o Aggression has almost always been legitimized by humanitarian justification
(Mussolini and Hitler)
o Military intervention can make matters worse not better
- Wave of optimism did not last long
o Bloodshed in Yugoslavia in 1990s
o Kosovo, genocidal policies
- USA has been the only global hegemon
- Genocide → an attempt to eradicate a people – identified by their nationality, race,
ethnicity or religion – through acts including mass murder, forced resettlement and
forced sterilization
- Hyperpower → a power that commands much greater power than any of its
potential rivals and so dominates world politics
- Unipolarity → international system in which there is one pre-eminent state, the
existence of a single great power
The ‘war on terror’ and beyond
- Started after the 9/11 attacks
, - Huntington – clash of civilisations → conflict between China and the west and Islam
and the west
o Criticism – globalization has blurred cultural differences
o The link between cultural difference and political antagonism is questionable
o Conflict may be more an expression of perceived economic and political
injustice than of cultural rivalry
- Huntington
o US academic and political commentator
o Fields: military politics, strategy and civil-military relations
o The Third Wave
- Fukuyama – end of history
- War on terror – US assault on Afghanistan and Iraq war
- Pre-emptive attack → military action that is designed to forestall or prevent likely
future aggression (getting retaliation in first)
- Drift towards multilateralism
- Donald Trump – promised to end the interventions but escalated military operations
in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria
- Imperialism → policy of extending power or rule of a state beyond its borders
From unipolarity to multipolarity?
- Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq raised questions about the nature and extend of USA’s
global leadership
o Noam Chomsky – USA’s a rogue superpower
- Hegemon → a leading or paramount power
- Multipolarity → international system in which there are three or more power
centres, creating a bias in favour of fluidity and instability
- Rising multipolarity has been associated with 3 main trends
o 1. The decline of the USA
o 2. The rise of China and other ‘emerging powers’
o 3. The changing nature of power and power relations
Decline of the USA?
- First mentioned because of the resurgence of Japan and Germany
o But renewed in the 21st century
- Great power → a state deemed to rank amongst the most powerful in a hierarchical
state system, reflecting its influence over minor states
- Imperial over-reach → the tendency for imperial expansion to be unsustainable as
wider military responsibilities outstrip the growth of the domestic economy
o US’s military dominance
o But military power may no longer be a secure basis for hegemony
- Dimensions of global power
o Military power → effectiveness of the military
o Economic power
o ‘soft power’ → cooperative power, smart power
TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY WORLD ORDER
The ‘new world order’ and its fate
- During the cold war period – two power blocks – USA and USSR (east vs west)
o Two rival military alliances – NATO vs Warsaw Pact
- World order → the distribution of power between and amongst states and other key
actors, giving rise to a relatively stable pattern of relationships and behaviours
- Bipolarity → the tendency of the international system to revolve around two poles
(major power blocs)
- Superpower → power that is greater than the traditional great power
o USA and former USSR
o Characteristics
▪ 1. Global reach
▪ 2. Predominant economic and strategic role in the world
▪ 3. Military capacity (nuclear weapons)
- End of Cold war – liberal internationalism → towards a new world order (Gorbachev)
- Wider use of humanitarian intervention (such as one in Kosovo)
- Humanitarian intervention – when justified
o 1. Gross abuses of human rights
o 2. Threats to security of neighbouring states
o 3. Absence of democracy weakens the principle of national self-determination
o 4. Diplomatic means have been exhausted
- Criticism of humanitarian intervention
o Violation of state sovereignty
o Aggression has almost always been legitimized by humanitarian justification
(Mussolini and Hitler)
o Military intervention can make matters worse not better
- Wave of optimism did not last long
o Bloodshed in Yugoslavia in 1990s
o Kosovo, genocidal policies
- USA has been the only global hegemon
- Genocide → an attempt to eradicate a people – identified by their nationality, race,
ethnicity or religion – through acts including mass murder, forced resettlement and
forced sterilization
- Hyperpower → a power that commands much greater power than any of its
potential rivals and so dominates world politics
- Unipolarity → international system in which there is one pre-eminent state, the
existence of a single great power
The ‘war on terror’ and beyond
- Started after the 9/11 attacks
, - Huntington – clash of civilisations → conflict between China and the west and Islam
and the west
o Criticism – globalization has blurred cultural differences
o The link between cultural difference and political antagonism is questionable
o Conflict may be more an expression of perceived economic and political
injustice than of cultural rivalry
- Huntington
o US academic and political commentator
o Fields: military politics, strategy and civil-military relations
o The Third Wave
- Fukuyama – end of history
- War on terror – US assault on Afghanistan and Iraq war
- Pre-emptive attack → military action that is designed to forestall or prevent likely
future aggression (getting retaliation in first)
- Drift towards multilateralism
- Donald Trump – promised to end the interventions but escalated military operations
in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria
- Imperialism → policy of extending power or rule of a state beyond its borders
From unipolarity to multipolarity?
- Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq raised questions about the nature and extend of USA’s
global leadership
o Noam Chomsky – USA’s a rogue superpower
- Hegemon → a leading or paramount power
- Multipolarity → international system in which there are three or more power
centres, creating a bias in favour of fluidity and instability
- Rising multipolarity has been associated with 3 main trends
o 1. The decline of the USA
o 2. The rise of China and other ‘emerging powers’
o 3. The changing nature of power and power relations
Decline of the USA?
- First mentioned because of the resurgence of Japan and Germany
o But renewed in the 21st century
- Great power → a state deemed to rank amongst the most powerful in a hierarchical
state system, reflecting its influence over minor states
- Imperial over-reach → the tendency for imperial expansion to be unsustainable as
wider military responsibilities outstrip the growth of the domestic economy
o US’s military dominance
o But military power may no longer be a secure basis for hegemony
- Dimensions of global power
o Military power → effectiveness of the military
o Economic power
o ‘soft power’ → cooperative power, smart power
