The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West
(Hardback)
Available Formats
Publishing Details
The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West
By (Author) Amitav Acharya
John Murray Press
Basic Books
8th July 2025
10th April 2025
United Kingdom
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Geopolitics
Politics and government
327.1
Physical Properties
Hardback
464
Width 162mm, Height 234mm, Spine 42mm
700g
Description
The epic history of world order, revealing how the decline of the West may be a good thing for its future.
Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and the rise of other great powers - especially China - threaten to unravel today's Western-led world order. Many fear this would lead to global chaos. But this is a Western illusion. Surveying five thousand years of global history, political scientist Amitav Acharya reveals that world order existed long before the rise of the West. Moving from ancient Sumer, India, Greece, and Mesoamerica, through medieval caliphates and Eurasian empires into the present, Acharya shows that humanitarian values, economic interdependence, and rules of inter-state conduct emerged across the globe over millennia. History suggests order will endure even as the West retreats. Instead of fearing the future, the West should learn from history and cooperate with the Rest to forge a more equitable order.Reviews
Fear not! The end of Western domination is not the end of human civilization. Instead, it will mark a return of many glorious civilizations which have thrived at different points of history. A rich, multicivilizational world is heading our way. Amitav Acharya brilliantly describes the old and new worlds and how they will all come together. To get a glimpse of the real future that humanity is heading towards, read this book carefully. It will dazzle and excite you and give you great hope for the future -- Kishore Mahbubani, author of LIVING THE ASIAN CENTURY
Amitav Acharya subjects the presuppositions of the quintessentially colonial discipline of international relations to rigorous scrutiny from a decolonial perspective. This book should serve as a model for many other academic disciplines that were founded on similarly colonialist assumptions -- Amitav Ghosh, author of SMOKE AND ASHES
Offers a powerful reminder that not all world orders in history have been Western, and that we now seem headed for a new multipolar order in which non-Western states are key to the future -- Odd Arne Westad, coauthor of THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION
Twenty-first century geopolitics will be a marketplace, not a monopoly. In this rich tapestry of a book bridging ancient civilizations and modern debates, Amitav Acharya reminds us that the unfolding multipolar, multi-civilizational world order is the historical norm - and should be celebrated as an opportunity for knowledge to spread in all compass directions. An essential guide to the post-Western world -- Parag Khanna, author of CONNECTOGRAPHY
Author Bio
AmitavAcharya is an award-winning author and distinguished professor of international affairs at American University.He has written fortheWashington Post,Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs,among many other media outlets, and he has appeared onCNN,NPR, the BBC, and Al Jazeera. He was born in India and has lived and worked in Singapore, Canada, UK, China and United States.
