Paper short abstract:

The world order has been a multilayered, multipolar order all along. Now there is worldwide interplay between multipolar globalization and multicrisis. Ideological disarray and confusion are building blocks of transition. This paper examines the interplay of crises and multipolarity.

Paper long abstract:

After World War 2 the victors were granted Security Council veto power. Decades later some powers were having international law for breakfast. Israel turned ‘the solution of no solution’ into a strategic motto. Over time NATO snuggled up to Russia a bit close. In response Russia snuggled back to Crimea, then to Ukraine and Georgia. The world order then was a multilayered, multipolar order all along. Now there is worldwide interplay between multipolar globalization and multicrisis. Ideological disarray and confusion are building blocks of transition.

When the French retreated from the Sahel, US forces came in with counterterrorism operations against (alleged) affiliates of Al Qaeda and IS. While replaying the cold war, now against terrorism, they supported corrupt governments. Add the arms spillover of Libya’s civil war (2011) and years later coups took Burkina Fasso, Niger, Mali, Guinea. US security operations expanding to coastal Ghana now encompass the US competing with China.

Pattern analysis: Security trumps development. Consider Afghanistan and Iraq. The issue isn't just neoliberalism but also the military-industrial complex, isn't just MIC but also ideology (democracy = liberal democracy) and isn’t just ideology but also big money. Hegemonic decline used to give rise to wars of hegemonic rivalry (1870-1945) and now gives rise to multipolar globalization (Pacific turn, China, emerging economies), which, interacting with diverse dynamics, yields multicrisis. US problems (corporate power, conservative power, uneven development, a billionaire world, extreme inequality) are reproduced on a global scale. This paper examines the interplay of crises and multipolarity.