Ukraine war, clash of authoritarianisms, global realignments

Ukraine is the terrain of a clash of authoritarianisms. It was a ‘post-American world’ until Russia invaded Crimea and Ukraine. Now Nato expands further East and to Scandinavia. The US targets both Russia and China. Food, energy, supply lines, shipping routes, inflation, weapons, inequality are on the table. More than half the world doesn't back the US approach. Is an Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization a good idea? The rule of power looms larger than the rule of law. Assange cautioned that as authoritarian societies become opaque to themselves, they become ungovernable.

Jan Nederveen Pieterse is Mellichamp Chair and Distinguished Professor of Global Studies & Sociology at University of California, Santa Barbara. He focuses on global political economy, development studies and cultural studies. Recent books are Multipolar globalization (2018), Globalization and culture (2019, 4th edition), Connectivity and global studies (2020), Covid-19 and Governance (2021). He was previously at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, University of Amsterdam.

Image credit: Nick Tsybenko on Unsplash (edited)