The puissant made to reign;
The faint left to condemn;
The indifferent contend to abstain;
And through this, thus, the world was left to reign.
The archive of history makes it unequivocally clear that the world is reigned by those who are acquainted with the rules which enable them to do so. The powerful ones enjoy a domineering position over the feeble ones who are destined to go through this just by bearing it with a constant utterance of condemnation. The rule is clear-one is to rule, and the other is to be ruled. The third one is the feigned neutral or indifferent, who pretends to be sitting on the fence and enjoying the battle. Further, if the Machiavellian principle is triggered here, then it is so as the skirmish will attenuate the warring parties and it would be an opportunity for the neutral to take a side or support in any way the one against your enemy. Neutrality is not recommended in any case, the same is the view about partial interference. Thus, interference for the sake of implanting peace must replace its opponent (for personal selfish interests). However, this lies in imagination and even might be within a utopian society.
While unpacking the current nature of the world’s operational mechanism, realism and realpolitik seem to dominate each and everything. In fact, this has been the guiding principle for centuries directing the military campaigns of the great rulers and military men of the past. The sole purpose was to extend personal agenda in either form. Morality, ethics, humanity and honesty were petty matters. This is the core of realism and realpolitik which surpasses morality and ethics and works in the direction towards catering to personal vested interests. This is a principle that rules the world today.
The Russian-Ukraine conflict is traced back to the ideological war between the US-led world order and Russian ideology.
Obviously, one must be so powerful as to secure and protect its existence. However, the same concern makes one the intruder who disrupts the peace of others. And this is output of the realpolitik and modern-day realism.
These two concepts of realpolitik and realism are the two sides of the same coin. In fact, these are the basis on which the building of the international order is erected. They pave the way for the rules rather than the methods ruling the world. The foremost rule is to be powerful as has succinctly been proved by the history where the mighty ones have ruled the world. How to be a powerful? Power at the state level is not a sole term but rather a kaleidoscope of multiple factors which are identified via working together.
The role of tangible sources of power in making a nation powerful can hardly be denied. Tangible sources of power like a booming economy determine and even guarantee the fate of a nation. This is undoubtedly clear. A prosperous economy ensures a developed nation. The role of the military in defending a country is admitted without an iota of doubt. Similar is the role of geography which is a permanent determinant in a nation’s foreign policy.
The imperial and colonial era opened a number of ways for the imperialists and colonialists to boost their economic strength. The local resources, e.g., raw materials, were exploited and used to send back to their ‘mother colonies ‘to support their economies, where they would transform into finished goods. Those finished goods would cater to both their internal needs and would be brought back to their native town, the colonies, where they would sell out at a higher cost. Thus, the earned wealth made their economic growth which in turn enabled them to spend on building military strength and internal infrastructure. The post-colonial era was made to introduce a new form of colonialism and imperialism-neo-liberalism. In this, the so-called internationalism was brought into being. Free trade and cooperation were stressed. For this, international economic institutions like WTO and IMF among others were unveiled with a purpose to help the economic revival of the struggling economies. Apparently, this was the aim, latently, they have been made to act as a tool in protecting the interests of the formal colonial masters. This has kept the erstwhile colonies in a new form of slavery-slavery of dependency.
In addition to the tangible sources of power, the role of ideology, governance and leadership are also important. In fact, these are the basis of a nation-building. It is a visionary leader who puts a nation on a trajectory towards progress and history has proved this. All the ills of a country are perfectly diagnosed by a farsighted leader. He makes a cost-benefit analysis of governmental policies. He prefers the state to all other things. Thus, he inter alia, contributes to a nation building.
Such a responsible leader takes strength from the ideology his state is based on. His ideology is the source of his strength. For instance, the Islamic Caliphate is based on the ideology of Islam and the glorious history of the Islamic Caliphate from pious caliphates to the last Ottoman Caliphate shows how much responsible and visionary a caliph used to be. The western-eastern wrestling is based on ideology. The Zionist brutality lies in their Israeli state belief. The Russian-Ukraine conflict is traced back to the ideological war between US-the led world order and Russian ideology. So is the cause of US-China competition.
While moving towards the end of the point, it is argued that those who want to rule the world must make themselves powerful first. They start from the bottom to the top to strengthen their position. Their internal stability in the form of political, economic, social and security strength among others enables them to exert an undeniable influence on their foreign front. They stuck the world in their baseless politico-economic ideologies and imposed their lifestyle on them. In fact, in the era of civilizational clash, they first control the mind. In other words, the thinking process of the people drives the latter to think and act in a way desired by the manipulators. The use of soft power in today’s world is a manifestation of this very approach.
Furthermore, it would be apt to say that the rulers of the world are the ones who are aware of the nature of the game. They start by strengthening themselves internally to exert their worth on the external front. They go through all the tangible sources and soft sources before making the rest dependent on themselves. This unveils the fact that time favors those who know how to utilize it. Furthermore, the world of today is a world driven by interests instead of morality and virtues. If one sits down and expects something good in fact as per morality, humanity and virtues to be done by the propagators of this materialistic order, they live in a fool’s paradise. The US and West are blatantly backing the Zionist Is real to suffocate further the innocent Palestinians. The US needs Israel to act as an outpost in the region for it. The Muslim world is dormant because they have been enslaved by their personal interests. The UN and humanitarian agencies cannot do anything because they are allowed only to act in accordance with their masters. The rule is clear and that is to rule yourself first and then come out to control the rest. This is a world of materialism and interests where there is no room for morality and humanity. The power will rule and the feeble will suffer. The rest is to condemn. The result is to suffer more. And this is the bottom line.
The writer has done his Master of Arts in English Literature and Linguistics from NUML Islamabad and can be reached at abdulsamad khanbannu22@gmail.com.