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The Ukraine War & the Eurasian World Order Paperback – February 15, 2024
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NATO expansionism was an important component of liberal hegemony as it was intended to cement the collective hegemony of the West as the foundation for a liberal democratic peace. Instead, it dismantled the pan-European security architecture and set Europe on the path to war without the possibility of a course correction. Ukraine as a divided country in a divided Europe has been a crucial pawn in the great power competition between NATO and Russia for the past three decades.
The war in Ukraine is a symptom of the collapsing world order. The war revealed the dysfunction of liberal hegemony in terms of both power and legitimacy, and it sparked a proxy war between the West and Russia instead of ensuring peace, the source of its legitimacy.
The proxy war, unprecedented sanctions, and efforts to isolate Russia in the wider world contributed to the demise of liberal hegemony as opposed to its revival. Much of the world responded to the war by intensifying their transition to a Eurasian world order that rejects hegemony and liberal universalism. The economic architecture is being reorganised as the world diversifies away from excessive reliance on Western technologies, industries, transportation corridors, banks, payment systems, insurance systems, and currencies. Universalism based on Western values is replaced by civilisational distinctiveness, sovereign inequality is swapped with sovereign equality, socialising inferiors is replaced by negotiations, and the rules-based international order is discarded in favour of international law. A Westphalian world order is reasserting itself, although with Eurasian characteristics.
The West’s defeat of Russia would restore the unipolar world order while a Russian victory would cement a multipolar one. The international system is now at its most dangerous as the prospect of compromise is absent, meaning the winner will take all. Both NATO under US direction and Russia are therefore prepared to take great risks and escalate, making nuclear wan increasingly likely.
- Print length324 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherClarity Press
- Publication dateFebruary 15, 2024
- Dimensions6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101949762955
- ISBN-13978-1949762952
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Editorial Reviews
Review
-JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER, .R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.
"Brilliant, in-depth analysis of the roots of the Ukraine war and the emerging changes in the world order." -- Jack F Matlock, Jr, U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1987–1991
"Excellent book! Glenn Diesen offers a highly informative analysis of the change and continuity of world order over the centuries. Must read to understand the complexity of the Ukraine War as a historical inflection point" -- - Sergey Karaganov – Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Russia Honorary Chairman of the Presidium
"A wide-ranging and stimulating examination of contesting models of world order and the roots of the Russo-Ukrainian war. A corrective to mainstream Western narratives, providing a powerful conceptual framework for critique. A brilliant foundational work." -- Richard Sakwa, University of Kent
"A superb book! Diesen dismantles the war propaganda and outlines why the Ukraine War is a symptom of a collapsing world order". -- Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament
"What luck! Professor Diesen takes the role of Christopher, patron saint of travelers, as we stumble across the threshold into 2024 – a truly liminal year. With laudable candor, Diesen presents little-known facts – on Ukraine, for example – showing how we arrived at this dangerous juncture. If facts lead to action, we may yet survive the demise of the tottering hegemon of the West." Ray McGovern, former CIA Presidential Briefer
"An important read. Important insights – as we need to face up to the unwelcome task of challenging our own preconceptions and having to navigate in an unfamiliar (non-western) landscape – where old steady handholds simply – are no longer present. No longer there.” Alastair Crooke, former British diplomat
"Apart from a meticulous deconstruction of the proxy war in Ukraine that devastatingly debunks, with proven facts, the official NATOstan narrative, Diesen offers a concise, easily accessible mini-history of how we got here....Diesen is one of the very few Western analysts who actually understands the drive to multipolarity." PEPE ESCOBAR, Zerohedge.com
“A most thoughtful and realistic account of the evolution of the world order, the perils that transitions in it create, and the relationship of these to the tragic conflict in Ukraine. Diesen dispels and replaces the fog of war with the much-needed clarity of historically informed reason.” AMBASSADOR CHAS FREEMAN, Former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs
“And so our minds turn to a different question: why are tottering empires prone to extraordinary delusions? Plenty of material for an answer is provided by Norwegian political strategist Glenn Diesen’s knowledgeable and well-argued book.” DAVID RAMSAY STEELE, Chronicles Magazine
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Jack Matlock, the US Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987-1991 who contributed to negotiating an end to the Cold War, warned that false narratives emerged in Washington to facilitate global primacy. Matlock notes that the public was told that the purpose of NATO was to eliminate the dividing lines in Europe; however, these divisions were already gone. Matlock cautioned: “expanding the military organization that had maintained a defensive line in the middle of the continent was a good way to revive the division”. Instead of fulfilling the commitment to establish an inclusive European security architecture, Matlock argued that Washington repeated the mistake made at Versailles in 1919 by excluding Russia and establishing a security order that would perpetuate the weakness of Russia.
Irrespective of its rhetoric about expanding the zone of peace and stability, NATO also prepared for a possible conflict with Russia. Defenders of Clinton’s decision to expand the military bloc continuously referred to an expanded NATO as a “hedge” or “insurance policy” against a possible conflict with Russia in the future. As Secretary of State Madeleine Albright explained in April 1997: “On the off-chance that in fact Russia doesn’t work out the way that we are hoping it will… NATO is there”. What Yeltsin heard was that his alleged partners in Washington had taken out an insurance policy to ensure victory over Russia if relations would deteriorate. In January 1994, prior to deciding to expand NATO, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Clinton’s top Russia adviser Strobe Talbott argued that NATO expansion would facilitate the containment of Russia. The justification of NATO’s post-Cold War existence was therefore to respond to the security threats that had been created by its expansion.
Former US Secretary of State James Baker warned that the purported need for an insurance policy could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Baker noted that proponents of NATO expansionism desired a favourable position in case Russia would in the future regard its own expansion as the best response to threats, yet NATO expansion would then realise this threat and encourage Russia to assert control over its neighbourhood. Criticising the revival of containing Russia, Baker stated the obvious: “the best way to find an enemy is to look for one, and I worry that that is what we are doing when we try to isolate Russia”.
Product details
- Publisher : Clarity Press (February 15, 2024)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 324 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1949762955
- ISBN-13 : 978-1949762952
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #214,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #765 in History & Theory of Politics
- #1,368 in International & World Politics (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2024It took me a while to decide to buy this book. Being retired, I’ve had plenty of time to hunt down good sources of news and analysis. I’ve seen Glenn Diesen on numerous panels and interviews. I generally agree with his analysis, and wasn’t sure how much I would learn from his book. Also, you can read the first two chapters simply by hitting “Read Sample.”
However, after examining his “Contents” page, I decided to buy the book. I figured that his chapters 3-6, which describe the rise and decline of the Western Centric world order, might provide a lot of interesting detail and evidence that put current events into an historical context. I was also curious to read his chapters 10-11 to see what he might posit as a path forward.
I wasn’t disappointed, and am glad I bought the book. Incidentally, his bibliography of thirty pages is quite impressive. And I was glad to see that he referenced Halford Mackinder’s short article (23 pages) titled “The Geographical Pivot of History” published in 1904 in “The Geographical Journal 170, no. 4.” Something of a landmark article that seems to have predicted the future.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2024Reading history books are usually as exciting as watching paint dry. But this book is very well written. It’s a geopolitical book but the history is necessary. Nonetheless, The book “moves” and is rather suspenseful because you anticipate the lead up to the climatic current events of Ukraine.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2024A fantastic addition from the realist school of international relations. A panacea for the pain experienced when reading the rantings from the NYT, UK guardian, and Washpo on current events.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2024Este libro presenta un excelente análisis de la transición por la que está pasando el sistema internacional y cual es son las alternativas: más violencia y guerra, con la amenaza nuclear presente, o acomodarse a un mundo cambiante.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2024The things you learn while reading this book really make you think. Things you didn't understand at the time but noticed. It is, for me, a life changing read in the sense that you will realize how much you have been lied to.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2024Scholarly book, extensively researched.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2024In “The Ukraine War & the Eurasian World Order” Professor Glenn Diesen makes an informative, compelling case that the Ukraine War is a watershed moment that symbolizes an ushering forth a new form of geopolitical and geo-economic organization on our Earth.
He brings in important historical facts about the events leading to the way our global organization developed — from before 1648 and the Peace of Westphalia with its vision of national sovereignty of nation states, up to 2022 and the Ukraine War, with a vision of the new forms of organization that he sees emerging after the war is over.
Written in an engaging and easy-to-understand narrative style, the book provides superb lenses for looking at the past, the present and a likely future of global, international self-governance by the 193 nation states of the world.
I’m so glad Glenn Diesen wrote this important book.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2024Glenn Diesen is one of the most knowledgeable people on geopolitics today. If you want to understand what is going on now, why, and how it might end, so you and your family can prepare as good as possible, READ THIS BOOK.
Top reviews from other countries
Sylvie ValenteReviewed in Canada on June 12, 20245.0 out of 5 stars For those who really care about our world
I follow Glenn Diesel on The Duran with Alexander Mercouris. I like his thorough analyses of events. I was not disappointed with his analysis of the Ukraine war, the reasons it came about, the rise of a new order. Don’t waste your time with the legacy media; read this book instead to be well informed on this war and its implications.
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Eric VertommenReviewed in France on October 23, 20245.0 out of 5 stars Ouvrage remarquable, hors du commun
Ce livre écrit avec une vision réaliste des relations internationales retrace l'évolution de l'ordre mondial depuis 1648, Traité de Westphalie à aujourd'hui en passant par le Concert des Nations de 1815 à 1914, la Guerre Froide 1945 à 1991, le moment hégemonique américain de 1991 à 2022 et maintenant le monde post-hégémonique. Il analyse la crise des sociétés libérales occidentales ou après des décennies de libéralisme autoritaire la population ne s'y retrouve plus. Enfin il aborde l'Ukraine avec les préliminaire à la guerre de 1991 à 2014, la guerre qui a réellement commencée en 2014 et finalement l'invasion russe. Sincèrement vous apprendrez la situation réelle du monde comme jamais. Ce n'est pas pour rien que le grand spécialiste des relations internationales américain Mearsheimer à décrit le livre comme fantastique.
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José MacayaReviewed in Spain on September 8, 20245.0 out of 5 stars Gran resumen de desde donde venimos, para evaluar los conflictos actuales.
Situación actual sobre la guerra de Ucrania, pero en el contexto de como ha evolucionado el equilibrio de poder en el mundo, desde Westphalia. Muy buen análisis de cómo EEUU en los 90s dinamitó ese equilibrio mundial vigente desde hace más de 300 años, metiendo al mundo en una senda desconocida y peligrosa, pretendiendo imponer la hegemonía. Hubo muchísimas opiniones importantes críticas que advirtieron de la inconveniencia y peligros de lo que se estaba haciendo. No es un libro fácil, es más bien es libro de estudio. Pero es estupendo. Gran resumen de desde donde venimos, para evaluar los conflictos actuales. Fundamentales los capítulos sobre la expansión de NATO y sobre Ucrania. Desarrollo del nuevo mundo que busca Eurasia y los BRICS. Diferencias ideológicas de BRICS vs. el EEUU hegemónico. Muy iluminador.
Lance GrundyReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 8, 20245.0 out of 5 stars Is Russia's SMO the Beginning of the End of Western Liberal Hegemony?
This is a superb book and one that should be read by anyone wanting to understand how the events in Ukraine are reshaping the world order. In it, Glenn Diesen, a professor at the University of South-eastern Norway and a specialist on Russia’s growing tilt away from the West and towards Asia, explains in layman’s terms the enormous shift in global power the conflict has initiated.
Taking as his starting point the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, across eleven chapters and 300-odd pages, Diesen concisely, yet comprehensively, explains how the West came to dominate the world order, why that 500-year-old hegemonic position is now under threat and how Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine is accelerating the move towards a multipolar world.
I really can’t recommend this book enough and, whatever your opinion on what’s happening in Ukraine, you’ll come away from a few hours spent reading this with a level of understanding of the geo-political realities of the conflict that you won’t read, see or hear in the mainstream Western media who, acting largely as mere propagandists for the Western Liberal elites, appear to be ‘mushrooming’ their populations on a previously unheard of scale.
Please do read it to better understand how and why we became embroiled in this escalating conflict which appears, on the surface at least, to have little to do with us but is, essentially, existential and could quite easily lead to the end of everything.
SiminReviewed in Canada on March 6, 20245.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Great book.








