The Disorderly SocietyRethinking Global Governance in an Age of Anarchy
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About this book
The post-Cold War global order has unravelled. Liberal values and institutions are in full retreat, while authoritarians everywhere are emboldened. International law has given way to the rule of lawlessness. The world is more globalized than ever, but also increasingly fragmented and disorderly. Meanwhile, humanity faces a perfect storm of threats from runaway climate change to escalating geopolitical confrontation. In this trenchant critique, Bobo Lo argues that revitalizing global order is the central task of our time, the key to addressing the realities and demands of the twenty-first century. He proposes a new internationalism, centred on a broad view of self-interest, greater representativeness and inclusiveness, and the acceptance of flexibility and diversity. The world has moved on, and so must its governance.
Reviews
Bobo Lo has written an ambitious and compelling book. It is a substantive and sophisticated analysis of the current geopolitical crises, and an elegant extended essay on the prospects for a new twenty-first-century global order. This is essential reading for policymakers focused on revitalizing internationalism and those considering new mechanisms for collective problem solving.
The Disorderly Society is a sharp, sober analysis of the passing of the old international order. But its real importance is in the hope that it provides for the revitalization of global governance. It is elegantly written, grounded in realism, and leavened with original ideas. Bobo Lo has provided a timely rejoinder to those who fear that geopolitical competition and disorder have once again become the defining features of world affairs.
The Disorderly Society is a compelling and timely account of the failures of statecraft and imagination that have led to the unravelling of international order. Bobo Lo distils a lifetime of studying Great Power rivalry, drawing on his deep expertise in Russia and China, to address uncomfortable truths about the West’s own role in the current state of affairs and to offer thought-provoking recommendations for how to avoid catastrophe.
Bobo Lo offers a thoughtful critique of the rules-based international order that has collapsed. He provides a provocative prescription for revitalizing global governance and creating an international society that reflects the realities and needs of the world in the twenty-first century.
Table of contents
Prologue: A parable of global disorder
Introduction
1. The rise and fall of the liberal order
2. A world disorder
3. Principles of a new internationalism
4. The United States, China, and the making of a twenty-first-century relationship
5. Powers in flux: adapting to change
6. Flexible multilateralism
7. Thinking beyond the state
Epilogue: Tomorrow's world