Order Without an Order

What we call the world order today is, in reality, a kind of organized chaos that resembles the Middle Ages more than any modern balance. Parag Khanna argues that our obsession with finding a “new global order” causes us to lose sight of the most important fact: perhaps there will be no single order, and that's okay. Instead of wondering who will replace America or the West as the dominant power, we should note that no one is really taking that place, and the map of power is fragmenting into a thousand different centers. Khanna's argument is clear: we think we are in a competition between world powers to determine who is in charge, but the world is evolving toward a kind of “new Middle Ages,” where multiple authorities overlap, intersect, and no one truly rules over everything. It is no longer just a matter of states—there are empires, transnational corporations, and stateless digital communities. Hedley Bull, one of the first to speak of this “anarchic society,” noted that before the European nation-states, power was contested between kings, lords, and the pope, each with their own sphere of influence. Today, something similar is happening: in Europe, after years of inaction, the European Union is taking steps to avoid dependence on the United States, accelerating progress on common defense, nuclear power, and financial markets, and for the first time, more Americans are moving to Europe than vice versa. In Latin America, China had invested billions in ports and infrastructure, but within a few months, the Trump administration turned the tables, blocked Chinese contracts, and brought the flow of Venezuelan oil back to the US. In Asia, the power of the state remains enormous: China has a state capacity greater than that of any empire in history, while cities like Singapore and Dubai attract capital and talent from all over the world—it is no longer just size that counts, but the ability to connect and attract. And while some states are becoming giants, cities are becoming islands of influence that carry more weight than their territory. Here’s a surprising fact: despite the war in Iran, the vast majority of the South Asian population in the United Arab Emirates has not fled, and even many Europeans who had left have returned. The flow of people and capital no longer follows the old territorial logic, but rather a network of “archipelagos” – from Lisbon to Bali – along which entrepreneurs and talent move. And here lies the real disconnect: we continue to think in terms of superpowers—who rules, who loses—when, in reality, we live in a world where power shifts daily, is negotiated locally, and the concept of a “global order” is more a nostalgic longing than an accurate depiction. The perspective that is often missing is that of those who experience these interconnections firsthand, perhaps working across two continents or moving from one hub city to another in search of opportunities. For these people, the idea of a single world order is just a theory: their lives are proof that it is possible to prosper even without central direction. Today, true order is continuous negotiation, not stability. If you think we always need a new global balance, perhaps you are just accustomed to a past that will never return. The key phrase to remember: In the new global Middle Ages, power is not seized—it is negotiated every day, in a thousand different marketplaces. If, after reading this Note, you realized that you had been thinking about global power in too linear a way, you can say so on Lara Notes with I'm In — choose whether it's just a point of interest, something you've experienced, or a belief you hold. And if you share this idea with someone over your next drink, you can tag them with Shared Offline: on Lara Notes, that's the way to say that an in-person conversation has truly changed you. This content is from Foreign Policy: you have just saved over 15 minutes of reading time.