Hegemonic Interregnum
The world is in frequent turmoil and the intensification of geopolitical rivalries amid the changing world order is further adding to the unrest which not only reshapes global political discourse but leaves very little space for middle and small powers to stand aside, compelling them to pursue alliances in their best interest. This intensification in geopolitical tensions and an in-depth analysis of the contemporary world order shows how states compete for greater political leverage, facilitates the militarization of space and engages in the commodification of crucial resources against democratic backsliding, growing wealth disparity and underdevelopment. The US-Israel joint airstrikes on Iran, Russian Invasion of Ukraine, and India’s attacks on Pakistan justifies how great power rivalries disregards the ‘rule-based order, normalizes the exercise of hard power and fuel authoritarianism across the world. Meanwhile, the much-celebrated Gen-Z led “revolution” and activism aimed to tearing apart dictatorial hegemony, eradicate inequality, and venturing into new avenues of human development, is potent in creating episodic ruptures and discursive resistance but hold little structural potential for transformation despite its successful culmination in many states.
While the changing world order and shifting alliances causes substantial disorder, the rise of the global south under the leadership of China, the BRICS and the subsequent birth of the “axis of upheaval” further intensifies the struggle for power between the west and the rest. Combine with the tech war, and the resource capture strategies of ‘the great powers’ for rare earth minerals, the struggle for maximum geopolitical leverage provides a backdrop for the invasions of powerful states over resource rich countries as is reflected in the cases of Venezuela and other parts of the world. The US-Israel joint aggression on Iran can also be regarded as a reflection of how geopolitical considerations, technological warfare and the resource capture paradigms coincides in invading those countries who either belongs to a rival political block or oppose the imperialist tendencies of the powerful states which not only undermines human development but at the same time push back the ongoing democratic movements in authoritarian states as was the subject matter of my previous article entitled “the Clouds of Authoritarianism”. While acknowledging the well-calculated strategies and better resilience of the Iranian regime and the revolutionary guards, the article analyzed how US-Israeli airstrikes backfired and helped the Iranian regime to normalize dictatorship, facilitate the militarization of politics, and resort to oppressive state apparatus in suppressing political dissent thereby leaving the masses in miserable conditions.
A more alarming aspect of this struggle for hegemony is its silence on the gross violation of human rights, the violation of human rights resolution, rule-based international order and of the principles of peaceful coexistence. Since the contemporary political discourse operates in binaries featuring the United States of America leading the west versus the Rest or more specifically the global South led by China, both the countries focuses less on the internal political cultures or the status of the leaders leading their respective countries but they extend political or financial collaboration just to expand the areas of their influence and counterweight the power of the rival block. America’s newly admitted friends who were previously declared war mongers and terrorists as is reflected in the cases of Syria, Libya, Iraq, Sudan and other dictators rightly justifies this trend in global and regional politics. Moreover, the diplomatic engagements of China with countries either led by dictators like the Taliban regime in Afghanistan with a country manipulated by military leaders in hybrid democracies reveals that power and economic considerations is above all. The interaction of both America and China with other countries not only provides legitimacy to their atrocious regimes but even motivates the recipient regimes to ban human right movements, arrest human right activists and political leaders, boost up exploitative rule and suppress political dissent in the peripheries.
Meanwhile, the aspiration of getting a just and an equitable alternative political order under China and the BRICS also reveals a new version of capital accumulation, circulation and exploitation which instead of providing an alternative framework of equity and democracy to the world, trying to capture more political, financial and technological space within the existing system against western expansionism. Similarly, the Gen Z led “colored revolutions” in various countries holds no political or ideological back up that can dictate their forward way to guarantee economic well-being and generate new avenues of human development but in most cases these movements have reinforced traditional authoritarian culture in their respective countries.
However, the neighboring states and their youth bulge cautiously notices these movements with curiosity and do have the feelings of making something new. But every political regime equally adopts strategies of dispersion to avoid ‘unpleasant situation’. Pakistan leads the world in this context where the popular narrative of the “collapsed system” was deliberately sponsored on the mainstream media to divert the attention of the intellectuals and the youth forcing them to stop getting ‘revolutionary inputs’ from the outside and think of alternatives within the country’. This also shows how states activate and sponsor propaganda machines to facilitate the ‘politics of narratives’ that although talks of resolving outstanding problems hardly touches the ground to clear the dust.
Consequently, while the world is going through radical power shifts and the dominancy of China reiterates many promises of human development, political equity and emancipation, very little can be experienced so far even though the miseries of the underprivileged sections continues to increase against the monopoly of the few. The Gen z led movements also needs a critical attention as nothing positive comes out of the most recent political transformations in the distant parts of the world where one dictator replaces the other and legitimize themselves through popular slogans but offering nothing special for democracy, liberation and socio-economic well-being.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Opinion Desk.
