Navigating world orders over five millennia: does the past offer clues to the future?

Building world order is not the monopoly of any civilisation, region or nation.

Some of the foundational principles and institutions of world order that we have today were developed – both independently and through mutual contact – by multiple societies, in similar if not same forms at different stages of history. These include anarchic and hierarchic inter-state systems, republicanism, freedom of seas, open trade, human rights, nationalism, humanitarian law, Great Power cooperation, and realpolitik and moral statecraft.

These and others can be traced to non-Western civilisations: Islam, Africa, pre Columbian Americas, Mongols, India and China, among others. The modern West is also a contributor, but often a late one, influenced by others.

Join Professor Amitav Acharya, UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance, as he discusses with Professor Louise Fawcett, Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Changing Global Orders, that though history does not repeat itself or is not cyclical, a five millennia look back does suggest possibilities and pathways for a pluralistic world order.

This is a joint event with the Oxford Martin Programme on Changing Global Orders.

This event will be followed by a drinks reception, all welcome.