The Once and Future World Order

“The Once and Future World Order 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. This timely book argues that a dominant West is not a necessary condition for a rules-based international framework.”

“In The Once and Future World Order, 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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Amitav Acharya's The Once and Future World Order offers a refreshingly original take on a potential post-West world order. With a lucid, perceptive, and provocative critique of the current global system, Acharya's survey of the past and visualization of the future dynamic between the ‘West’ and the ‘Rest’ is stimulating for all who care about international relations in our globalized world!”

“The world order is changing irreversibly and there is no better guide to what will happen next than Amitav Acharya. This is a deeply informed vision of how nations will draw on their pasts to relate to one another in the future.”

“A timely corrective to the blinkered arrogance about the role of the Rest which continues to infect so much Western policy analysis and history-writing. The Once and Future World Order is prodigiously researched, lucidly written, and a compelling read.”

“In The Once and Future World Order, Amitav Acharya weaves a new global history of world order. This is the book everyone must read not only to make sense of our past but also the twenty-first century.”