Review: Wolf World Conflict Futures Loom Past Trump Xi Hype
New book details future survival strategies for countries to navigate law of the jungle realities amid rising competition and order collapse anxieties.
A new book details future survival strategies for countries to navigate “law of the jungle” realities amid rising competition and order collapse anxieties.
WonkCount: 1,247 words (~6 minutes)
Review: Wolf World Conflict Futures Loom Past Trump Xi Hype
Context
“The reality in this changed world is that there will be more volatility – we will be facing storm after storm,” Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned earlier this month capturing the future confronting regional countries beyond the immediate the focus on U.S.-China summit deliberations this week1. The remarks, which included a call to step up preparations for geoeconomic pressures “likely to intensify” in the coming months and prolonged fallout even after the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, spoke to anxieties echoed in some other key Indo-Pacific capitals as well as in regional engagements on the future global outlook2.
Select Key Recent Global Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Datapoints and Developments
A new book Geopolitical Conflict in the Wolf World by analyst Marc Saxer details future survival strategies for countries to navigate law of the jungle realities amid rising competition and order collapse anxieties3. The book articulates these strategies in the face of what it sees as an increasingly predatory world, drawing on the “wolf” image of Man famously recalled by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes where “the law of the jungle rules and man is a wolf to man.”4 In doing so, it adds to a series of new books drawing attention to shifting regional and global order dynamics, including ones we have reviewed recently here on ASEAN Wonk. “What makes this historical juncture special is that, for the first time in centuries, non-Western powers will have a decisive say in how the next world order will take shape,” the book notes before laying out competing visions for the next world order and varying approaches that key powers can adopt moving forward5.
Analysis
The book also highlights key datapoints to watch on potential futures (see originally-generated ASEAN Wonk table below for a summary of important contours. Paying subscribers can also read the rest of the “Analysis” section and “Implications” section looking at how these dynamics play out in the future).
Future World Order Visions, Major Governance Features and Notable Policy Characteristics
