Amitav Acharya

@AU_SIS Once & Future World Order: "erudite"@nytimes “monumental”@IAJournal_CH “palliative to newscycle noise”@csmonitor

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Attention university and school teachers
preparing syllabus for a new academic year on International Relations/Global Studies, & looking for something new & different from standard texts. You may consider using
as a text my book: The Once and Future World Order. It’s accessible yet “erudite” (New York Times), suitable for undergraduate & graduate courses.

The book traces the origins and meanings of key concepts such as sovereignty, hegemony, diplomacy, great power relations, economic interdependence, globalization, norms, humanitarian values, human rights, racism and anti-colonial movements, and offers a window to the past, present & future of world order. It provides examples from all regions through 5000 yrs history. It argues that world order has multiple origins yet there are convergences.

It is theoretically eclectic, exposing the roots of realism, liberalism, constructivism, critical theories, decolonial & Global IR.

For free examination copies, fill out this request form, https://t.co/n7XfNeH4rE

There is a very affordable paperback published in London. https://t.co/vR5K552F6K

This article in Current History provides an overview of the key arguments with examples. “To Create a New World Order, Look to History.” (OPEN ACCESS)
https://t.co/f7i9TgY139

My recorded public lecture & panel at Oxford University present the key themes/arguments of the book with slides are: Lecture:
https://t.co/6Ofpy4j1Ds

Panel with Oxford professors Andrew Hurrell, Louise Fawcett & Faisal Devji:

https://t.co/nZnPG6TE8l

For more info, watch this space or DM me.

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

World Order talk @UCBerkeley. If you are in Berkeley on 17 September, join me at my book talk the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley.

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

The real counterbalance to “the West” is from within the West. Trump is leading the way. Time to retire the West. And then West-versus-the Rest. https://t.co/qZ2XYGF6E0

[Ali Wyne @Ali_Wyne]

.@dhpierson’s excellent piece underscores that a coherent, Chinese-led coalition to counterbalance the West is unlikely to emerge. But Washington’s attacks on core allies and partners will enable Beijing to build a wider array of transactional alignments.
https://t.co/wwHze8GuYL

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Quotes from Al-Jazeera summary: The SCO condemned “military strikes on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which have resulted in numerous civilian casualties and significant damage to the country’s economy”.

The US-Israel attacks on Iran “violate the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter and create serious risks to international peace, security and stability”.

“Member States express their sincere condolences to the people and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the tragic death of Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and to the families of the victims,” the declaration added.
SCO members also reaffirmed “their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran and advocate a resolution to the conflict solely through political and diplomatic means.”

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

The summary of the SCO declaration - whose signatories include Xi, Modi, and Putin, if generally authentic - is a frontal rejection of US policies towards Iran. No official translation available yet. One can expect strong reaction from Trump. https://t.co/6UJT3MEgj7

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Agree India should stay away from anti-US posturing or rhetoric. Or any anti-Chinese rhetoric for that matter. But has appeasing Trump got India any real benefits: humiliation both national & personal for Modi), tariffs, support for India’s strategic rivals, threats to undercut India’s rise (not to make the “China mistake”) - one can go on. These are real harms that a realist especially can recognize.

[Rajesh Rajagopalan @RRajagopalanJNU]

@MohanCRaja: "Delhi has little reason to support the anti-American and anti-Western posturing that increasingly surrounds both the SCO and BRICS ... it does not solve any of India’s entrenched problems with China or elevate the partnership with Russia to a higher level."

[Paul Poast @ProfPaulPoast]

- Golden Arches Theory: The idea that no two countries with a McDonald's have fought a war against one another. It pointed to the enduring power of "two all beef patties special sauce lettuce and cheese" (not to mention mention the pickles, onions, and sesame seed bun). But that theory, popularized by Thomas Friedman, was dunked almost immediately (see 1999 Kosovo War).

https://t.co/sbLPHAZ106

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

A good way to define Multiplex world order vs multipolarity.
…
‘Traditional ideas of polarity may be questioned by starting from what Amitav Acharya calls multiplexity. From this perspective, the world is characterized by multiple, crosscutting, and competing modernities, with “serious variations and differences in the script of world order even within the West
– not just between the West and the rest”’

Queer theory at the end of the world: what's the point?
PJ Vernon, M Rahman, A Stoffel, M Breiding… - … Feminist Journal of Politics, 2026
https://t.co/nllxg5TrCG

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Comparing today’s Big Tech with yesteryears’ British East India Company legitimizes & and obscures the true extent of the atrocities of the EIC and its role as a vanguard of rampant racism, & territorial colonialism. However if it creates greater awareness of the unsavory role of present tech companies, then it does serve a purpose.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

An essay I've just written for @nytimes on why Big Tech is the 21st Century’s equivalent of the East India Company:
"What It Would Take to Dismantle the Most Powerful Companies in the World" https://t.co/E8mFY9tJkW

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Surprised but gratified to see my work on Global IR and Bandung Conference cited by Christine Lagarde- former IMF MD and current European Central Bank President. Her speech at Columbia Law School, entitled "The order that took centuries to build", states:

"The non-aligned movement that emerged from the Bandung Conference in 1955 challenged the terms on which the post-war order was being built."

This text references my 2016 essay, "Studying the Bandung conference from a Global IR perspective," published in the Australian Journal of International Affairs.

https://t.co/yNh1Hocl7T

My essay argues & and she seems to agree, that the modern rules-based system was shaped by the resistance and normative agency of post colonial states and should not be taken as an exclusively Western creation.

Great to see Global IR entering the consciousness of policymakers (and their speechwriters -I suppose) The idea that world order is a co-creation rather than a western monopoly is also the core argument of my recent book: The Once & Future World Order. @Lagarde @ecb @research_sis @ColumbiaJTL, #world_order, #international_law

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

The order that took centuries to build https://t.co/JyMsJu8xC6

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Canada should immediately rename Lake Ontario as Ontari'io.

Canadian Prime Minister Hits Back at Trump’s ‘Lake America’ as He Defends Lake Ontario’s Centuries-Old Name

https://t.co/9xQatkV1JN

[Mark Carney @MarkJCarney]

Le nom du lac Ontario tire son origine du mot wendat « Ontari’io », qui signifie « le lac est beau, le lac est grand ».

Ce nom remonte à plus de 400 ans, bien avant la Confédération canadienne et la Déclaration d’indépendance des États-Unis d’Amérique.

Nous savons que les États-Unis sont en train de changer. Leurs relations commerciales, leur politique étrangère, leurs monuments nationaux, leurs hydronymes.

Les Canadiennes et les Canadiens savent aussi qu’il faut appeler les choses par leur nom, et ce lac se nomme Lac Ontario – aujourd’hui et pour toujours.

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

This squares with my decades of teaching experience with undergraduates in the US and other countries but applies to not just China but also to their views of other civilizations in general, which are generally positive.
I also noticed younger generation students in the US & other countries including China to be more open-minded & respectful of other cultures as well as being a little idealistic (perhaps no surprises here). This was confirmed while I was working on & teaching through my recent book on civilizations & world orders, which was partly inspired by my classroom experience. It is worth reflecting how much the constant media barrage & punditry and nationalistic rhetoric from political leaders focusing on conflict changes their views in later stages.
Not to mention the impact of a heavily Eurocentric & Americano-centric curriculum (as in International Relations) widely used to train them, which both explicitly & implicitly present Western nations being politically & civilizationally superior & suppresses the positive contributions of other societies to world order. The learning outcome undercuts their understanding of & respect for other nations. The “clash of civilizations” is as much a product of curricula & classrooms as of battlefields & media & thank-rank narratives.

[Paul Poast @ProfPaulPoast]

How should the US should approach China? For US citizens, the answer depends in no small part on your age. In particular, recent @ChicagoCouncil polling finds that the youngest generation surveyed (those between 18 and 29) have the least "hawkish" views.

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

From Epic Fury to Epic Failure?

With “Operation Economic Outcast,”Trump is putting US power to unprecedented test.

First, he threatened to bomb Iran back to stone ages & wipe out its civilization. Now he is threatening Iran’s “economic asphyxiation”. This involves economic coercion of other nations through third party sanctions and will test American economic hegemony. Trump failed to secure cooperation of allies & other nations to join naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz; while more nations may join or at least not violate economic sanctions,
these are unlikely to produce Iran’s economic surrender & might further encourage other nations to reduce economic exposure to US. After failing to militarily bring Iran to its knees, failure on the economic sanctions front will further doom US global power & prestige, & accelerate “The End of American World Order.”

[Ashutosh bajpai🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 @ashutosh3310]

@AmitavAcharya It's one of the best book I have ever read. I hope, "the End of American World Order" would become global voice.

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

AI risks. Not much new here but coming from Bill Gates might generate more attention.
“…AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice. The challenge is monumental…. Unfortunately, right now we are not preparing for it. I don’t see evidence that leaders, experts, and communities are confronting the challenges adequately. There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI eras..

…solutions should be developed through a public democratic process that includes elected officials, policymakers, educators, health workers, local officials, and community leaders.”

https://t.co/35QoD0PQ2M