After the demise of USSR at the end of cold war, as it pulled out its troops from Afghanistan, and its parts towards eastern Europe broke away, we came across this catchphrase: New World Order. This dominance by the lone superpower of the times harbingered new wars in Mid East and Afghanistan. Millions died in these wars and entire cities and towns were raised to ground. The trail of humanitarian disaster that it left is still visible in many conflict around the globe. So it was more about disorder than order, and hi-tech inventions were used to kill humans and destroy their habitats like never before. When the Corona pandemic broke out, and the virus travelled from one country to another, catching hold of the powerful countries, it brought the entire world to a standstill. Just after a week or two into lockdown we started hearing this three letter concept once again with great repetition – New World Order. This time it meant that as the great economies in the West and across Atlantic started tumbling down, people thought that power would now shift. This power-shift would not only be in terms of other powers gaining strength over the rest, but also in terms of changes within the concept and application of power. The spectacular developments in Information technology, in remote warfare, and AI can give us an idea of what it could be in future.
The unprecedented power accumulated by states and armies around the globe, coupled with a nexus with corporate capitalism, helps in understanding the helplessness of peoples in case militaries and technological prowess, bolstered by control over economy, are unleashed in a wrong way. One doesn’t know where exactly the world is headed to in the aftermath of this pandemic and lockdown. But God forbid if events take some wrong turn, and like in 1990s, we witness some full blown wars, we are slated for hard times. One can only impress upon the global leadership to understand the importance of conflict resolution through dialogue, and diplomacy, and prefer not to use military means to solve disputes. At the same time it is an imperative to look at political conflicts as political matters and not through the prism of hate, and cases of historic vengeance. The political leadership, near and far, need to press ears to ground.