World looks increasingly dysfunctional: MK Narayanan

Bengaluru: “We live in fractured times,” said former diplomat and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, an ominious prelude to a lecture on the emerging world order, delivered at the Synergia Foundation on Friday. “Where do we go as the world looks increasingly dysfunctional?” 

The economic order, which he describes as a “little trap of its own”, has, through the fear of a crisis, brought about a marked shift towards localised, ethnic-oriented, GDP driven governance. "The less affluent today live in a world of radical uncertainty, governed less by economic peril than it is by fear," he declared. 

Geopolitics and geo economics intersect more today than ever before, "effectively changing our perspective of the world. History and politics are becoming economic determinants". The rise of the new world order, Mr Narayanan explained, is divided broadly into the perceived decline of the United States and the rise of China, compounded by the highly unpredictable US President, Donald Trump. 

The United States has begun to show a reluctance towards intervening in foreign disputes, "in part because of a lack of progress," he remarked. The United States, which he says has been reduced to a "pale shadow of its former self," is dealing with strains in once friendly ties. "The US' relationship with the UK has taken a beating and its presence in Asia has decreased significantly. Apart from Afghanistan, they have very little presence here in Asia." Russia is regaining its position of importance in the global setting too, he pointed out, largely due to its oil wealth and in part to its interventions in the Middle East.  On the other hand, "any misreading of China's sense of its own power could be a grievous mistake," he remarked. "China's foreign policy is shaped only partly by politics and economics and increasingly by geo economics and geo strategic solutions. The thirst for oil has made them move into several areas that they have never been to before." 

"China has already begun to exercise the leverage that the US once enjoyed," he added, saying, "This is a return to a 19th century agenda, fuelled by the rise of Xi Jinping. The country is out to set right historical wrongs and reclaim the territories it once enjoyed. They are not likely to accept the status quo in the emerging world order."