It is currently in vogue to describe our era as post-Western, or even post-American. The problem is not that these expressions are incorrect, but that they focus on what is being replaced rather than on what is replacing them. I plead guilty as well. A few years ago, a publisher titled one of my books “The Future is Asian.” A bold decision that excited me. Except for one small detail, did I mention: “The present is already Asian for the majority of humanity.”
It is particularly difficult to find the right term to describe the world we live in, because we are fixated on the notion of order. Under the influence of Western international relations theory and the conventions among foreign policy specialists, we are constantly searching for the rules and institutions that define the emerging global or international order.
However, nothing in the intrinsic nature of history or geopolitics demands that there be a fixed and established order. Geopolitics is a science, not a popularity contest to determine who will be the Secretary-General of NATO or the United Nations. It analyzes the dynamics.
