Book launch for Divergent Worlds: What the Ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Can Tell Us About the Future International Order

The Centre for Strategic Studies Invites you to a Book Launch for

Divergent Worlds: What the Ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Can Tell Us About the Future International Order

Amitav Acharya and Manjeet S. Pardesi

Yale University Press, 2025

Abstract

What comes after American hegemony? In this book, Acharya and Pardesi compare the interplay of power and ideas in the ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean to explain why the two regions took divergent paths to peace and stability. They also discuss its lessons for international order today. While the ancient Mediterranean order was shaped by the hegemony of Rome, the Indian Ocean developed an open and inclusive international order without the dominance of any single power. Moreover, the Indian Ocean provides a more robust example of the peaceful spread of ideas and culture than the ancient Mediterranean where Hellenization or the spread of Greek ideas was often accompanied by violence and imperialism. Applying the divergent experiences of the two regions, the book argues that the history the Indian Ocean before European colonization offers a more useful framework for reshaping world order as the US- and Western- dominated Liberal International Order comes to an end. The Indian Ocean framework points to an alternative model of order building, a multiplex rather than a multipolar approach, that could sustain efforts to build peace and stability in the emerging Indo-Pacific region.

More details about the book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/boo....

Authors

Amitav Acharya is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor at the School of International Service, American University, Washington D.C.

Manjeet S. Pardesi is Associate Professor of international relations in the Political Science and International Relations Programme, and Asia research fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.

The book launch is followed by refreshments.