The world seems to have gone directly from a hegemonic US-led international system to an interregnum in global order. The traditional phase of multipolarity— or a restoration of the balance of power, or even a struggle among rival systems of order, has been skipped.
Jason Pack's Libya and the Global Enduring Disorder (Oxford University Press, February 2022) presents the Libya and Ukraine conflicts as an ideal microcosms for examining the collective action failures typical of our new geopolitics. Jonathan Winer's Afterword contextualizes what the Libya conflict reveals about today's international arena.
This talk is an examination of the current state of the world as well as American and Western policy towards key geostrategic hotspots framed in light of Jason Pack's Enduring Disorder concept. Broadening out from the findings of his core research on Libya, he will discuss how the West's response to the Ukraine crisis highlights where today's geopolitics seem to be headed – bringing into sharp focus the need for a Western-led, rules-based global order.
For more background on the book's main argument and its applicability to the current Ukraine crisis consult, Jason's recent pieces in New Lines Magazine Why Putin Is Playing Poker, Not Chess or with Foreign Policy Libya’s Chaos Is a Warning to the World. For Mr Pack's, argument for a more robust transatlantic approach to order the current disorder, see his: When the US shrinks from the stage, things fall apart – lead article Boston Globe IDEAS Section.
The Middle East Institute and NATO and the Enduring Disorder Project look forward to welcoming at 3pm on April 11th. Refreshments will be served.
Speakers:
Jason Pack
Senior Analyst at the NATO Foundation, and President of Libya-Analysis LLC
Ambassador Jonathan Winer
Former US Special Envoy for Libya, and Non-Resident Scholar at MEI
Photo by Anadolu Agency via Getty Images