The Domino Decade
For those of us who don’t study history all that much, it’s an easy thing to believe that nation states have been with us since ancient times. But that’s not really the case. It surprises many to learn that the nation state system, as we know it, has only been with us for a century – since the fledgling efforts of U. S. president Woodrow Wilson attempted to launch the League of Nations following the debacle that was World War One.
There always countries that existed prior to that time, but their relationship with one another looked nothing like what we have now. Some nations were merely proxies of other more powerful countries and “empire” was the name of the game in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The First World War, and the millions of lives lost, revealed to everyone just how catastrophic and unfair the world had become. While many called for the end of war, Wilson energetically sought to put in place a global infrastructure that brought together nations in an effort to build peace, establish trade and the movement of goods, and to seek global justice. That had been a difficult thing to establish prior to then since countries themselves weren’t subject to any laws but their own.
To accomplish his goals, Wilson built international institutions that would form a “society of nations” that could eventually usher in a new era of peace and economic growth. It struggled for a time in formation but eventually lost its path once the Cold War divided the world following the Second World War. Suddenly, things began to resemble the “empire” era that Wilson had so valiantly attempted to escape. The goal of all nations having the right to self-determination was washed away by great superpowers that played with the world like a chess board and ran satellite nations to extend and protect their holdings. The United States, Soviet Union and even China took the world back to a more difficult time. Rich countries became richer, poor countries remained mired in their poverty. And hope of a society of nations fell under the carving knives of the rich and powerful.
All three of these developments have themselves fallen into disarray. The rich and affluent nations are now in decline as global forces like populism, corporate dominance, and the re-emergence of nuclear competition, racism and regional conflicts continue to eat away at their history, heritage and progress. And as the old Cold War has disappeared, troubled poorer nations are themselves on the verge of anarchy. There is hardly anyone around anymore who talks of a glorious future of peace among the nations and the dawn of a new global age of affluence and tranquility. The world is on a new path, but one that is more dangerous than what this generation is used to.
Previously, it was usually the nation state that was the absolute, with everything else being expendable. Now, the historic definition and practice of “the nation” is under attack, as forces internal and external seek to break up those institutions and laws that once made countries so enduring. Think Brexit, the collapse of global trade deals, the American decline into lawlessness, the troubling disruptions in Latin American countries, the attack on minorities by the government of China and Russia’s endless meddling in the former Soviet Union satellite countries and you get the idea.
What seemed impossible even a decade ago has now become life in real time. To most of us, the world seems to be coming apart. Despite numerous examples of success, the overall structure of how nations functioned together now seems to be morphing into something else entirely.
For citizens and organizations, a fundamental problem has arisen: how to function in a world with less law, more vigilantism of different kinds, and deteriorating conditions between nations themselves? For example, since climate change is a global reality, how do you bring about a united action to defeat it when nations themselves have broken away from traditional norms for getting along? Think of other developments like human trafficking, terrorism or the increasing flow of refugees and it gets difficult to see how to overcome universal challenges when countries are increasingly going it alone.
We are now growing used to a world where the lead nations and global organizations are growing incompetent and less collaborative. And as it leads to low grade racism, alt-right populism and the decline of democracy itself, we are left to wonder how to navigate this increasingly more complicated world. As nations rise and fall and eventually grow apart from one another, the sense of dominos falling is acute. More attention needs to be given to how citizens, their representatives and organizations, can stop the toppling instead of just merely grousing around about the problems. That will take enlightened leaders and followers willing to sacrifice.
There has been much that is erroneous and unfulfilled in the world order we have known, yet it proved remarkably successful at pulling us out of the darker side of history. To keep from sliding back, we must support those efforts to keep our nations together on the progressive path. Should we opt out of that responsibility, history will return with a vengeance.