The Once and Future World Order by Amitav Acharya

The Once and Future World Order by Amitav Acharya
Amitav Acharya

Forthcoming – April 8, 2025

The Once and Future World Order | Nations, Wealth and Power in the 21st Century by Amitav Acharya explores the evolution of world order and argues that the decline of Western dominance may lead to a more equitable global system.

The epic story of the past, present, and future of world order, revealing how the decline of the West may be a good thing for the world.

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and the rise of other great powers—especially China—threaten to unravel today’s Western-led world order. Many fear this would lead to global chaos, but the West has never had a monopoly on order.

Surveying five thousand years of global history, political scientist Amitav Acharya reveals that world order—the political architecture enabling cooperation and peace among nations—existed long before the rise of the West. Moving from ancient Sumer, India, Greece, and Mesoamerica through medieval caliphates and Eurasian empires into the present, Acharya shows that humanitarian values, economic interdependence, and rules of inter-state conduct emerged across the globe over millennia. History suggests order will endure even as the West retreats. In fact, the end of Western dominance offers us the opportunity to build a better world where non-Western nations find more voice, power, and prosperity. Instead of fearing the future, the West should learn from history and cooperate with the Rest to forge a more equitable order.

This is the definitive account of how world order evolved and why it will survive the decline of the West. 

Amitav Acharya is an award-winning author and distinguished professor of international affairs at American University. He has written for the Washington Post, Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs, among many other media outlets, and he has appeared on CNN, NPR, the BBC, and Al Jazeera. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

  • ISBN: 1541604148
  • ISBN-13: 978-1541604148
  • 464 pages
  • Forthcoming – April 8, 2025

Published by: Basic Books – Hachette Book Group