Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers summary

Although the world is full of diverse societies and peoples, there are a few things that we tend to agree on. One of them is a sense of morality. “But morality is such a subjective term,” you might say. After all, it could be that what is ‘moral’ for one person might not be for another.

Well, not quite. Cultural psychologists, led by Jesse Graham, propose that different cultures actually share similar moral foundations. Whether we live in New Zealand or sub-Saharan Africa, most of us instinctively understand fairness, loyalty and care, and, conversely, cheating, betrayal and harm.

Think of Donald Trump and Angela Merkel. While they both have to fulfill broadly similar roles on the world stage, they do it very differently. For one, Angela Merkel respects international laws and norms, while Donald Trump flouts them on a regular basis. 

These specific leadership differences can be found all across world governments. But how do we categorize them all? 

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been described as unipolar by political scientists. This means that there’s been one ‘pole’ of power. And unsurprisingly enough, that power has been the USA.

However, things are changing. Since the election of Donald Trump, the international order has started to fragment fast, and the US has ceded ground to a rising state.

As we’ve learned, there are different types of international leadership. There are humane authorities, hegemonies, anemocracies, and tyrannies. And when the dominant state is one of these types of leadership, they create a corresponding type of international “norm.” This means that they normalize a kind of behavior on the world stage.

When a humane authority is the leading state, there will be a “moral” international norm. A hegemonic leadership, on the other hand, creates a world order characterized by double standards. An anemocracy is one where states behave as cowards and bullies depending on whether they’re dealing with a more, or less, powerful rival. And a tyranny creates a world-order defined by brutal oppression.

If you scan the headlines at any point in the day, no doubt you’ll find something alarming about the direction the world is heading. Maybe that’s a jump in CO₂ emissions, or a global pandemic. You’d be justified in thinking that there doesn’t appear to be any real leadership to step in and sort these big problems out.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this will change any time soon.

If you live in America, Europe or Australasia, you’ll be well aware of the ideas of liberal democracy that characterize "the West." These ideas include equality, free enterprise, and freedom of expression, among other things.

However, in the early twenty-first century, the idea of liberal democracy has faced many challenges. From the rise of populism in Europe to Trump’s nationalism in the US, western liberal democracy is being weakened. And now, with the rise of China, it could very well be replaced altogether. But what exactly might come after it?