The Next America

The world as we see today has not been more disintegrated since World War II. The diplomacy talks have virtually become fist fights and the top shareholders of global order have inherent ideological differences to begin with. A very recent example is of Syria, which was abandoned to terrorists due to lack of a final consensus. This is the actual problem that we face today, there is no one person to blame and the group keeps shifting the blame to everyone else. Today, with a weak and volatile leader, America is no more the super power it used to be and furthermore we do not seem to have any other contender anytime soon. The result is a chaotic struggle to power with the future quite uncertain. What caused this mishap to take place and will there be any path to Stability? Or do we need to learn to live with this divided society?

The recent fall of liberalism

The year 2016 as it was, witnessed a meteoric rise of protectionism in almost every part of the world starting with Brexit in UK that left the entire EU on the verge of recession meanwhile, the Chinese nationalism got so angry that even the party is struggling to control it, and ending with President Trump’s victory in US and a Strong ‘NO’ vote to the Italy’s referendum. The effect was so much that even the parts of Europe, such as Poland and Hungary for which it was synonymous with World War 2, shifted towards the ultra-isolationist environment. Be it for the economic reasons or political Ambitions, but the current global order dictates Nationalism, with France being the latest to join the party.(French Far-Right Front seem to be the popular choice for election ’17 and may quit EU leading to its ultimate collapse.)

Now, the world is set such that every nation big or small wants to work on its own startup rather than group together or work with an existing leader and the world is more divided today than it ever was.

We have become both lazy and selfish

The 1940s demanded a change from the existing process but at the same time there was the emergence of a new super power who despite enjoying its unfair advantages did one good thing and that was realising its responsibilities as a world leader and restoring world order thereby leading to the formation of structured and organised systems such as UN, IMF and WTO for maintaining international cooperation. The America post 1940 had both the reasons and power to propel its efforts as the solution to the problems posed by the autocratic neo-Nazi societies and rising communism. The presence of a huge stature and its resources provided the world a reason to move towards liberalisation and open markets. But today, at least for large parts of the west, the growth and development happens only for the others, technology together with emerging markets destroy jobs that never come back, and there is an unruffled stagnancy since decades. Today, the desperate world lacks a reason to adopt liberalism and is listening to every other voice that attempts to provide an alternative no matter how unrealistic its goals may seem.

The reasons for this are fairly simple and easy to understand. Average Citizens which make up the majority of population want a system where they do not have to work for their wealth and still the country keeps up the growth and provides for its citizen. The nationalist dream fits completely into this desire. They promise the jobs back to the people, paint a prosperous country and rising growth, and the best of all- blame the outsiders and migrants for everything wrong. So, everyone goes home happy and the blame is shifted towards the outsiders, a petty minority. And this works every time! It worked in Nazi Germany, it works in Russia (America being the outsider), and this time it even worked in US.

The Final Question   

The world as we see today has no two superpowers but a rather distributed division of power with no one person holding authority over the final decision and everything functions on consensus which is again a new problem to deal with when the top shareholders of global order have inherent ideological differences to begin with. Take the example of china at the climate summit, who wanted to enjoy the freedoms of a developing state but powers of a developed nation, or the very recent example of Syria which was abandoned to terrorists due to lack of a final consensus. This is the actual problem that we face today, there is no one person to blame and the group keeps shifting the blame to everyone else.

So final question is with America and the west not so much in the center of the world today, and no one taking the responsibilities on the “other side”, who will finally take it on their shoulder and work for an integrated global order. At present, of the situations that seem possible. One is to wait for either of the present or emerging powers to realise their responsibilities before it’s too late. One possible choice being the rise of new Political factions such as BRICS and ASEAN taking over the conventional leaders (NATO and EU). Or a farther yet achievable option is we learn to coexist until Sir Darwin’s theory takes over.