A World in Disarray summary

Do you ever feel like financial interests rule the world? Well, you wouldn’t be so far off. In fact, there was a shift toward prioritizing finance after World War Two. This shift is in part a result of the way the economy was propped up after the war, which also contributed to global stability.

Here’s what happened.

During the spring of 1989, Chinese students descended on Tiananmen square in Beijing. They were assembling to pay respects to Hu Yaobang, a communist who was killed after attempting to reform the government.

The state responded by ordering the military to clear the square, resulting in thousands of people being injured or killed. At the time, the United States was tasked with making a decision about how it would react to such a violation of human rights.

In 1994, a long-drawn-out conflict in Rwanda between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority reached a breaking point. Within months, nearly one million Tutsi were murdered as the international community stood by, failing to take action. Although the lives of hundreds of thousands of people could have been saved with minimal military risk, nothing was done.

This cataclysmic event marked a major shift in international relations. More specifically, it precipitated a shift toward intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries. The Rwandan genocide would also eventually result in a large scale change in the international military order.

America plummeted in popularity in 2003 when it decided to invade Iraq. At the time, people across the globe responded with outrage, speaking out against what they saw as a violation of humanitarian law.

But despite the vocal public disapproval, it wasn’t until things calmed down that the inappropriate nature of the invasion was truly apparent. Once the dust did settle, it was clear that the US invasion was illegitimate, despite the doctrine of responsibility to protect.

Anyone who reads the news knows that the war in Syria has been devastating. The conflict has been so horrific that it has even raised fundamental questions about how the international community should respond to such events.

One major topic of discussion in this broader debate is the difference between words and actions. After all, the UN is tasked with upholding the responsibility to protect, which means not only speaking out against atrocities but acting to stop them.

These days, it’s easy to get worried about looming conflicts, such as Russia expanding into Ukraine or China claiming territory in the South Seas. However, while these countries are certainly broadening their influence, there’s nothing to suggest that they intend to expand their territory very far beyond their borders.

Since the West can count on this fact, it should make every effort to work with these nations for our mutual benefit. In fact, forging stronger diplomatic bonds between China, Russia and America would do wonders for stabilizing the world order.