Is a World Order Possible?
- Jia Han
- Jul 26, 2024
- 4 min read
Earlier I wrote Basics of Today’s International Relations [1]. My goal was, and still is, to discuss the potential impact of this US election on world politics. Such a topic requires more than superficial knowledge of political science, philosophy, economics, history, and religion at the bachelor level or higher. Since then I have tried to supply further background knowledge. So far I have done only a fraction needed. Current events call for a quick overview of world politics. Thus, this write-up.
We do not have space to explain US domestic politics here. However, I have collected some useful information [2-7]. (I planned to use them for a write-up on US domestic politics. Obviously US politics has been undergoing changes and further development will occur, thus more references may be added.) For your convenience, a summary of them is as follows. Dr Albert Mohler [2] is the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Southern Baptist is the largest Protestant denomination in the US. His explanation of the US domestic problems is good and I agree with him on most points. On foreign policy, he claimed that the US foreign policies of both parties (Democrat and Republican) are similar. On this I agree with him to a certain extent. Strategically speaking, what he said is true. However, there are important differences which I will explain later. Tulsi Gabbard was a 2020 Democrat’s presidential candidate (the year Biden was elected). Her interview [3] helps us understand Democrat internal structural problems (DEI, ideological, intolerance of opinions). GoodFellows is an online discussion forum by world class scholars; most of [4] are relevant here. One point of [4] agrees with Gabbard’s focus (political power) in [3]. [5] is a good commentary on the deep state. [6] discusses problems in mainstream media, specifically reporting on Donald Trump. This video explains much about what happened behind the scenes of mainstream media and their rationale for doing so. [7] is a preliminary analysis of the Trump-Vance ticket.
Now back to the original topic: international relations. Earlier I emphasized [1] that to understand international relations political philosophy [8] is essential. Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy is foundational to modern Western political thought. To really appreciate this point, I recommend an excellent book by Mark Lilla, The Stillborn God [9]. This book reflects Western political thought in the last four hundred years. Hobbes’ political philosophy marked a turning point in the West.
Hobbes argues that a political community needs a strong/powerful government. Without such a government, society will become a Hobbesian world. Life in a Hobbesian world will be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Hobbes’ solution to a stable and peaceful polity is establishment of a Leviathan (government). Leviathan is a (fictitious) terrifying creature in the Bible. The key point is that the government must have a monopoly of all coercive power (armies, police, etc.). As pointed out in [8] all modern Western polities are in fact based on Hobbes’ proposal (with variations of course).
Two supplementary comments should be made. First, a miserable Hobbesian world (or state of nature) is a hypothetical world. Hobbes saw a glimpse in his years. Other great philosophers (John Locke, Rousseau) propose different ones. But to a certain extent Hobbesian worlds are real, observable (i.e. appearing as some forms in the real world). You may search failed states to see its approximations. Second, Hobbes’ philosophy was intended for domestic politics. Can it apply to world politics? It can if we make some assumptions. However, the detailed rationale is well beyond this writing. We only need to know the idea can be applied to world politics, with some caveats).
The problem of real world politics is that a Leviathan of the whole world is clearly impossible. For a start, it requires disarming all nation-states and establishing a world government that has all powerful armies and police (that is what the word monopoly means). Some may say what about the United Nations? The United Nations has no such coercive power; all UN armies are supplied by member nations and are used to keep peace not to establish peace. In the real world, if one of the warring parties is a middle power nation, it would be difficult to stop the war. If a big power is involved, then it is nearly impossible. The Russia-Ukraine War may serve as an example. Without a Leviathan, long term peace is a pipe dream and wars are constant threats.
Then, is world order possible? There is no simple answer. I will write a few write-ups to address this question superficially. Superficially because it is one of the most difficult questions one can ask. This does not mean that some kind of world order is impossible. After WWII, a kind of world order was established. You may have heard rule-based world order, liberal world order, etc. I will continue this topic. Stay in tune.
References:
[5] How The Deep State Took Down Trump (7-12)
[8] Steven B. Smith, "Political Philosophy," Yale University Press, 2012.
[9] Mark Lilla, “The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West,” Vintage, 2008
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