Ideological Clash Is Not Happening In the Middle East or In Asia, but In the West, In Europe
By
Kashif Mirza
January 12,
2021
There is no
question that the change in administrations in the US will be a critical point
in rebuilding the international order. It is a welcome development that
President-elect Joe Biden has indicated his intention to prioritize
multilateral coordination. His administration will repair relations with
Europe, which greatly deteriorated under Trump, and support international
frameworks like the Paris Agreement on global warming and the World Health
Organization. However, the world cannot expect the U.S. to mend the
international order by itself.
It is
therefore difficult to imagine the U.S. will again become the global
standard-bearer for free trade. Washington is also unlikely to quickly return
to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. President Donald Trump, who
prioritised American interests at the expense of others, has destroyed other
countries’ trust in the U.S. The novel coronavirus has helped this trend
diffuse worldwide by promoting the exclusionary mindset that one must repel
others to protect one’s own life.
The
international atmosphere is tense, and the existing order is crumbling as
countries pursue their own narrow national interests. The vicious cycle of
distrust and insecurity must be stopped in 2021. In international security,
too, there is no guarantee the U.S. will maintain its overwhelming military
capability. The international order of this new normal cannot rely on U.S.
leadership alone. The Trump administration tried to change China’s economic
behaviour by exerting pressure on trade while largely ignoring coordination
with other countries. With both sides levying sanctions and subsequent
retaliation, the situation has turned into an unproductive new Cold War.
Although
the World Trade Organization has grown weaker, Japan, Singapore, Australia and
other willing countries are still discussing rules focused on data
distribution. For Japan, the alliance with the U.S. has long been the
cornerstone of foreign policy, but there will now be more occasions than ever
for the country to exercise its power independently. China has taken a keen
interest in these discussions as more countries have joined.
The era in
which world orders were built through the might of superpowers is coming to an
end. In a nonpolar world, even modest actions can snowball into something
greater. When developing a new framework, there are countless possibilities for
participating countries and themes to take up. Countries should compete against
one another by demonstrating new ideas and leadership to address outstanding
global issues.
Beijing’s
relative success is not widely discussed in the rest of the world. That’s a
reflection of growing concerns over Chinese President Xi Jinping as the driving
force. In Washington, both Democrats and Republicans now seem convinced of the
need to treat China as a systemic rival. China’s economy may have rebounded
faster than any other major country during the pandemic, but its growth is
getting more sluggish. Volatile Sino-US relations and more restrictive access
to overseas markets for Chinese companies have prompted a fundamental rethink
of growth drivers by Beijing’s top economic planners. About China the West’s
fears over the Beijing consensus that is, a future where countries trade and
deal along rules shaped by China’s autocratic rulers are overblown. It
challenges to imagine that liberal logics will not work out the way we might
expect. What if China is making history, not simply playing out its end.
The
COVID-19 crisis also taught us one thing, it is not necessarily the most
economically or militarily powerful that can go through a crisis unscathed.
There is a profound realignment going, and the Muslim world also needs to find
its better place in it. This is very interesting that the challenge to the
liberal world created by the West is being challenged from within itself. This
ideological clash is not really happening in the Middle East or in Asia, it is
happening in the West, in Europe, in America. Muslim states have a lot to
contribute with their ideas about global justice. Pakistan and Turkey have been
champions of all this. Every year at the UN, both the countries talk about
global justice, needs for UN reform, and how the world is bigger than five
permanent members of the UN Security Council. These issues need to be brought
to the attention of Muslim world more rather than an inward-looking reflection
on good governance.
The
COVID-19 pandemic is changing the global power dynamics. No one has a power and
monopoly to design anything in the international system now. The current global
system is witnessing the return of great power rivalry with the rise of Russia
and China that pose an existential challenge to dominant liberal world order
and those who would like to maintain it. However, in the new order, we see more
cooperation that transcends nations and countries, referring to efforts to
manufacture coronavirus vaccines which brought together scientists and
different nations. It is a new reality that needs to be internalised and
adjusted to. The world order is undergoing a profound realignment, and the
Muslim world needs to find its higher place in it.
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Kashif
Mirza is an economist, anchor, analyst and the President of All Pakistan
Private Schools Federation.
Original
Headline: New world order and The Muslim world!
Source: The
Daily Times, Pakistan
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-west/ideological-clash-happening-middle-east/d/124069
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