A Book with Legs Amitav Acharya - The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West
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Oct 6, 2025 
Join distinguished professor Amitav Acharya, an expert on international relations, as he dives into his book's compelling insights on world order's evolution. He traces its origins to Mesopotamia, discussing how ancient diplomacy informs today's geopolitics. Acharya critiques the oversimplified Thucydides Trap when analyzing U.S.-China tensions. He also explores democracy's fragility compared to monarchy's resilience, emphasizing the importance of mutual learning across civilizations. His optimistic view on cross-civilizational exchanges offers a fresh perspective on global dynamics.
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Mesopotamia Laid World-Order Foundations
- Sumerians invented core world-order institutions like treaties, territorial markers, and early empires.
- Many modern concepts of sovereignty and diplomacy trace back to Mesopotamian practices.
Law's Sacred Origins Then Secular Shift
- Early lawgivers drew legitimacy from divine authority, linking law and religion across civilizations.
- The West later secularized law into natural or conventional law, but the divine origin persisted initially.
Multipolarity Can Produce Stable Peace
- The Amarna diplomatic system shows multipolar great-power cooperation can sustain long peace.
- Multipolarity is not inherently chaotic and can be managed historically.
