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日益失序的时代

Jan 6, 2022 Richard Haass

纽约—五年前的这个月，我出版了一本叫《失序时代》（A World in Disarray）的书。这本书的主题是，冷战的结束并没有像许多人预期的那样迎来一个更加稳定、安全与和平的时代。相反，出现的是一个冲突比合作更为普遍的世界。

当时有人批评这本书过于消极和悲观。事后看来，这本书原本可以因为相对乐观而受到批评。与五年前相比，世界变得更加混乱——大多数趋势都朝着错误的方向发展。

在全球层面，挑战与应对措施之间的差距巨大，并且在不断扩大。新冠疫情暴露了国际卫生机制的不足之处。我们正在进入疫情的第三个年头，但由于中国的阻挠，我们仍然不知道它的起源。

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Richard Haass

Writing for PS since 2020
141 Commentaries

Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, previously served as Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department (2001-2003), and was President George W. Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland and Coordinator for the Future of Afghanistan. He is the author, most recently, of The World: A Brief Introduction (Penguin Press, 2020).

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 9 Comments on this article

Stopda Steele Jan 9, 2022

In classic FSO style, Dick misdiagnoses an obvious problem then revels in his own wisdom for identifying the problem without offering any practical solutions.
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Leto Atreides Jan 9, 2022

Even as Haass laments the mounting disarray in the world, he is also emblematic of part of the problem. As a representative of mainstream American thinking, he points fingers at American adversaries, but largely ignores how American actions are contributing to such disarray. This is not a recipe for collective global action to stem the growing disarray.
- Adrian Wu Jan 10, 2022
  
  You have forgotten one thing, and it is that the US is exceptional. It alone makes the rules which everyone else needs to abide by. However, the US can pick and choose which rules to agree to according to its own advantage. The world can only be peaceful if everyone abides by this "rule based system" (everyone except the rule maker, of course). The US supposedly promotes democracy (although the country itself is an oligarchy), but it wants to have autocratic power when dealing with international matters. In other words, it wants to rule over an empire. Anyone not within its control is an adversary. Not much different than Britain before WWI; a supposedly democratic country ruling its colonies with brutal, sometimes bloody autocratic power.
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James Cunningham Jan 7, 2022

Without American leadership in building a consensus in dealing with these global problems, it is hard to imagine progress towards solutions. That can’t happen until we can restore balance to our governance. Right now only two of the three branches of government seem to be functioning as intended - the executive and the judiciary. The President issues executive orders and the Supreme Court allows or cancels them. Congress is reduced to mud wrestling with little inclination toward building consensus solutions for all American people. Until a statesman of the caliber of Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush comes to the fore, government will remain dysfunctional and we will make little progress in solving our problems - global and domestic.
- Adrian Wu Jan 10, 2022
  
  The US only acts for the benefit of its ruling elites. The so called consensus is built by coercion. The US political system has been hijacked by the military industrial complex since the 1960s. The US domestic and foreign policies in recent years only start to make sense when viewed through this angle. It is only relevant as a world power because of its military strength and its stranglehold on the international financial system. It lacks the moral and ethical standing to be persuasive otherwise.
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cedric hinsch Jan 6, 2022

The analytical interpretation of the overall world affairs is clearly on point. I agree with the content of this piece in almost any conceivable respect. Calling for a political settlement, though, sounds almost like an accommodation to Putin‘s ultimatum to discuss the political architecture in the euro-atlantic in very broad and structural terms. Since said architecture ought to be off the table, there is relatively little space for a „political“ agreement except in a scenario in which Russia would seriously consider leaving the Donbas, Crimea, adhere to Open Skies, the INF and commit to a series of other imperative conditions. Because the probability for thar outcome is extraordinarily low, I would rather speak of a „diplomatic“ solution, which will require both dialogue and effective deterrence and readiness to intervene ex ante.
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john boveri Jan 6, 2022

For all the disarray that Mr. Haase identifies, one can be solved with relative ease and is eminently reasonable - stop the unnecessary encroaching growth of NATO so threatening to Russia.
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日益失序的时代

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