Kyaw Win - How to Find a New World Order

From Westphalia•••

If we talk about the world order, we have to start with “Westphalia.” This refers to the Treaty of Westphalia, which was signed in 1648 after the “Thirty Years’ War” between European nations. In fact, this treaty was just a compromise between the warring nations. It was an agreement to “govern as and when they pleased within their own realm.” This was a commitment made between nation-states and became a system of relations between nation-states. Therefore, in a precise sense, it would be more like an international order than a world order.

This system can be said to have three main principles. These are sovereignty, “non-intervention” and “balance of power”. Although it may seem that the first two are based on the equality of states, in reality this is not the case. At this time, most of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America had not yet developed into “modern states” and were still within the feudal system. The European nation-states did not consider these small states as sovereign states. In the third point (balance of power), the “hegemony” of a single great power is often the only way to go. Therefore, the Westphalian principle can only be said to be a combination of the logic of equality based on territory and the logic of oppression based on geopolitical influence. The second logic is the main one, and it is an international order driven by its own national interests.

In short, colonialism and the Great War took place within this system. Neither the 19th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant’s “ideology that democracies should never go to war with each other” nor Marx’s “internationalism of the bond of brotherhood” could overcome the national interests of the Westphalian spirit. After the First World War, US President Woodrow Wilson’s value-based international system was rejected by his own country and was regarded as a historical banner that was not practical. Yet, successive national leaders seem to have enjoyed the Westphalian system. After the Second World War, the reconstruction of international relations has continued to inherit the Westphalian legacy. In fact, the post-war period can be considered the peak of the Westphalian concept.

The Potsdam Equilibrium and the United Nations

You may remember the Taehyung, Yokohama, and Potsdam summits held shortly before the end of World War II. In fact, these talks (especially the Potsdam talks) were a prelude to the division of the spoils of war and the postwar international order. In the division of the spoils of war, Eastern Europe came under the influence of the Soviet Union, while the West became an ally of the United States. In China, where the Communists came to power, they sided with the Soviets, and in Asia, Japan sided with the United States during the Korean War. Countries such as Korea and Vietnam were also divided, with the United States in the south and the Soviets in the north. Thus, about one-third of the world was occupied by the Soviets, while the remaining two-thirds came under American leadership.

At the same time, the United Nations was being formed to lead international relations in the post-war era. After World War II, the world was no longer like that of Westphalia, but a new generation of independent states was emerging. Therefore, the United Nations needed to represent all the countries of the world. However, the real politics of the post-war era was ideological competition, and the position of two ideologically competing groups was more important than the equal participation of all countries of the world. Thus, the combination of the Potsdam equilibrium and Westphalia became the formula for the formation of the United Nations. According to the Potsdam equilibrium, the five victorious allies (the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China) became the five permanent members of the Security Council. These five countries also held the power of veto, meaning that no step could be taken without their consent. The newly ratified UN Charter also continues only the three Westphalian principles.

In terms of the positions of the two rival groups, the US group has the upper hand. The People's Republic of China is not represented in the Security Council, and the small island of Formosa, Taiwan, under the US umbrella, has been able to occupy China's permanent seat. Thus, out of the five veto powers, four are with the US, except for the Soviet Union. Thus, the post-war international order is essentially US-led. The international economic order, too, was implemented through the World Bank, the IMF, and the GATT (later WTO), which were created by the Bretton Woods Conference (1946), and could only really function within the US group.

Parallel programs

The post-war era, the Cold War era, was characterized by two superpowers, often referred to as a “bipolar world.” While the US-led axis implemented the international agenda through the United Nations and the Bretton Woods, the Soviet-led axis also had its own agenda. Soviet foreign policy was built on two basic principles: “peaceful coexistence” and internationalism. The policy of peaceful coexistence was a diplomatic one, not a diplomatic one. What was really needed was a policy of “exporting revolutions” called “internationalism.”

After the Soviet-Chinese split in the 1960s, China also proposed a separate international plan. It was called the “Three Worlds Policy.” The two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, were the First World, the developed countries of Europe were the Second World, and the developing countries, including China, were divided into the Third World. The strategic direction given by this idea was to base oneself on the Third World, to keep the Second World in the background (or to ally with it), and to attack the First World. Even within the First World, it was said that an alliance with the United States could be formed to fight the social imperialists (the Soviets). The Albanian Party, an ally of China, did not accept this idea at that time. It criticized it as not an international plan. It was a strategy designed to serve China’s interests. This policy also disappeared automatically after the Soviet troops withdrew from the Chinese border.

At this time, the United States, flying the flag of the United Nations, also established a sphere of influence in developing countries with its own programs. It allied itself with governments that were far from democratic, with a strong anti-communist spirit. People like Sis (Khmer) Marie and Ngo Dinh Zin from Asia, Saddam Hussein from the Middle East, and strongmen like Batista and Pinochet from Latin America were once Americans. After 1975, after the Vietnam War, policy checks were re-examined and they were carefully controlled.

In any case, I think it's fair to say that the UN-centered international agenda managed to contain the Cold War, preventing it from becoming a hot war.