THE NEW, NEW WORLD ORDER:
Iman Safi May 16 2026
Now there is a new ‘New World Order’, and it has never been clearer to see than from the perspective of Trump’s visit to China.
The term is definitely of political nature, and change is an attribute of politics; for better or for worse. And when it comes to world orders, there is nothing that can shape them or define them more than the rise and fall of empires.
By definition, an empire is a nation that controls many territories and is ruled by a single authority figure.
Historically-speaking, the ancient Assyrians established the first recognized empire, because they drove their area of domain all the way from Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) into the entire ‘Fertile Crescent’, and then further into Egypt and other foreign territories.
The most famous/infamous empire in history was perhaps Rome. In more ways than one, the Western ‘empires’ have all been shaped on and influenced by Rome. With that said, Rome managed to remain as the world’s only super power, ie only empire, for at least five centuries. Even after the demise of the so-called Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire aka the Byzantine Empire survived in a subdued status and didn’t fall until 1453 AD
In effect, every empire throughout history has created its own world order, one in which it controlled other smaller nations and capitalized on their resources, but no empire in history has thus far matched the might and longevity of Rome.
The main Muslim Empires (ie Omayyad and Abbasid) were the greatest empires of the time, but they didn’t control Europe. Their status therefore was not exactly global, but it would be perhaps fair to say that during that period (661-1248 AD), the world was dominated a single empire.
For centuries, the Western and Eastern hemispheres existed almost independently from each other with a few short-lived exceptions, and it wasn’t until the Mongols toppled the Abbasid Empire and pillaged Baghdad in 1258 AD that east mixed with the west and a new world order was created on the aftermath of the Abbasid downfall.
That fall marked the end of the world’s biggest empire of the time, or what we call today a ‘uni-centric world’. The uni-centric world had to wait for a few centuries to re-emerge.
After that, it took nations many years to develop a new world order that was poly-centric. The Abbasid Empire was eventually ‘replaced’ by a doctrinal analogue, the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans are in reality descendants of the Mongols, and as they adopted Islam, they built a mighty empire that stretched from the western regions of the Balkans all the way to Arabia and Northern Africa.
But with the European Renaissance, new nations came to prominence; including Spain, France, England, Austria, and later on Russia, Italy and Germany.
The feuds between the European nations went on for centuries over territory and dominance, and was fueled to a great extent by the ‘discovery’ of the America’s in 1492 AD and quarreling over control of the new rich lands and trade routes. The year 1492 was indeed an interesting one because it was the year when the Muslim rule of Spain ended, and Europe was set to develop its own culture and military might.
For a few centuries, a new world order was created that was poly-centric; one in which England, Spain and France were all great European empires in their own right. Even small European nations like Holland, Portugal and Belgium built their own little empires and established colonies overseas. All the way, the Ottoman Empire maintained its position and stronghold on the Muslim World.
But that was about to change.
WWI and WWII were in reality driven by European competition. The term ‘world war’ is a misnomer. These were European wars over world dominance. And even though Japan was a major player in WWII, the initial conflict was between Germany and the rest of Europe.
Even if the Nazis ended up winning, in effect, the post WWII new world order was still going to remain as Western.
To this effect, WWI and WWII did not create a new world order per se. they only bolstered the power of England, France, and the new kid on the block; the USA.
The concept of the new world order is therefore one that has been flexible throughout the ages, and a quick summary of the history of the world east of today’s Pakistan would reveal very similar patterns.
The first time that the term ‘New World Order’ was actually used was in the wake of the end of WWI in 1918 AD when the League of Nations was established. The then American President Woodrow Wilson used the term to assert the importance of international law that would arbitrate world peace by consensus under the auspices of an international body that includes all nations.
As Wilson’s pet project failed and WWII erupted and ended, a new empire was on the rise.
The Bolshevik revolution in Russia created an empire that was very incompatible with the capitalist West, and hence the post WWII Cold War era was created.
The Cold War era became a de-facto bi-polar new world order. It witnessed the rise of the USA, the partial collapse of Western Europe, and the rise of the USSR.
The bi-polar post WWII new world order lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the actual term had to wait for another American President for it to resurface.
In a posthumous Soviet world, George Bush Sn. was quick to literally announce the emergence of a ‘New World Order’ in which America was the single super power in the world. This brought back the definition of world order to the days of Rome for the first time in many centuries.
But things change all the time.
What we are witnessing now is a global power shift. The West is losing its grip on wealth and technology whilst the East is on the rise.
This event is totally unprecedented in recent history. It is the single biggest change in world power dominance ever. It dwarfs all other previous historic events.
It was in the last 3-4 decades that power brokers the West believed that they were the rightful heirs of the world and that they can forge its destiny. The ‘New World Order’ they had in mind was one that was meant to be unchallenged. They believed that that had it made, and that they had the power to decide the fate of all other nations; indefinitely.
In their hubris, they did not fathom that the so-called global south was not only going to rise, but to also challenge their status and all positions of strength.
Now, China outperforms the USA is all aspects; without exception, and George Bush’s dream of an American-dominated New World Order is no more.
The new world order on the rise will be poly-centric, one in which America and the rest of the West are players; not custodians.
As Western nations fought and pillaged each other, the biggest winners were the banks. They loaned money to all warring parties in the knowledge that the debtor who loses will have to repay from reparations.
Bankers are not ideologues. They are profit-driven. They will finance anything and anyone for this sake of producing profit, including war efforts.
At this very crucial fulcrum in human history, both the Western governments and the banks are in big trouble; primarily because of the rise of China. But again, China is coming in a big package that includes all other BRICS nations.
Chinese leader Xi Jiping made it very clear to President Trump as to who is the new boss. Not only he snubbed Trump by not greeting him personally at the airport, but he went as far as mentioning the Thucydides Trap in his speech; a term that alludes to the apparent tendency towards war between an emerging super power and a dying one. This is not diplomacy. This is not what world leaders say to foreign dignitaries when they host them. This is not what American Presidents are used to hear. This is a threat, a direct threat. He is telling Trump that China does not pay much attention to the American President and his entourage of bankers and CEO’s. The world is now China’s oyster.
The world in its entirety is not in a mess. Its economy is not going to collapse. There will not be food shortages. These specters are what the West only is facing. All the hallmarks of dying empires are so evident in today’s West. Ibn Khaldoun described these aspects in details seven centuries ago, all the way from the emergence of conspiracy theories, to fear, rise of radicalism, blame and counter blame, the rise of charlatans, mob mentality, homelessness, corruption, despair, erosion of rationality, and all other social phenomena that we are witnessing now in the West. They are not here by accident; they are features of all empires during their collapse.
As a matter of fact, as the West, specifically the USA, is misreading the writing on the wall trying to make itself great again in any which way one interprets this term, China and most of its allies in the global south are taking leaps and bounds forward.
To put the icing on the cake as it were, Xi Jiping gifted Trump seeds of a special rose to grow in the White House rose garden, knowing too well that it was ploughed in and replaced with Trump’s notorious ballroom. Was this a cryptic message?
This is not a call for celebration. Far from it. It is a call for sobriety and mature understanding. After all, we don’t know what will the change mean to every day’s people. Will the new ‘New World Order’ create a better paradigm for humanity? Will it bring global stability and progress? Will the new custodians of the world be able to implement true international law and order? We can only hope for the best and only time will tell.
