Divergent Worlds: Past and Future International Orders

SDSC Current Affairs Book Talk

This seminar features the new book by Manjeet Pardesi and Amitav Acharya, Divergent Worlds: What the Ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Can Tell Us About the Future of International Order. Pardesi examines the question, ‘What comes after American hegemony?’ He draws upon the book’s comparison of 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; and highlights lessons for international order challenges today. Applying the divergent experiences of the two regions, the book argues that the history of the Indian Ocean before European colonization offers a more useful framework for reshaping world order as the US-and Western-dominated 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.

About the Author
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. His research interests include World Orders and World/Global History, Great Power Politics, Asian security, and the Sino-Indian rivalry. His most recent book, Divergent Worlds: What the Ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Can Tell Us About the Future of International Order (co-authored with Amitav Acharya) was published by Yale University Press in 2025.

This event is hosted by Professor Evelyn Goh FBA FASSA, Shedden Professor of Strategic Policy Studies, The Australian National University. For more information, contact TommyShengHao.Chai@anu.edu.au.


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