The term 'world order' referes to the way in which global events and cirumstances are influencded by the major actors in the world. Untill 1990s, commentators on world affairs called their discipline 'International relations'. Since the advent of globalisation the term 'international relations - relations between nations - is no longer broad enough to describe the world.
The term 'new world orde'r originated in the early 1900s in the wake of the optimism at the end of the cold war.
The need for world order
Interdependence and global threats
Globalisation. As the recent global financial crisis has demonstrated, a financial problem in one part of the world can have a quick ripple effect across the globe. This feature of the globalised world has not promoted stability, but instead has made the world more vulnerable. A terrorist attack within a country's borders, a regional conventional war, an outbreak of illness in a single area, or mass atrocity crimes committed by a dictorial regime can have an immediate flow-on effect to the rest the world.
Benefits of interdependence
Despite these issues, the news is not all bad. Those in the well-off developed world, representing one-sixth of the toal global population, benefit greatly from the current world order. Recognising the threats posed by interdependence, states have made serious efforts towards coorporation over the past 20 years.
The developments of world over time
State sovereignty
State sovereignty had its origins in the Treaty of Westphalia, the collective name givin to the two treaties concluded on 2 October 1648 - otherwise known as the Peace of Westphalia. The treaties ended the Thirty Years' War within the Holy Roman Empire and Eighty years' war between Spain and the Dutch Republic, and marked the beginning o the modern concept of states and modern diplomacy.
Multilateralism
Multilateralism cooperation occurs when nations act together for a common purpose. The reason for its emergence was, quite simply, survival. From the 17th century, the leaders of Europe gradually began to find the political will to act together to stop the cycle of war and violence. Success in this endavour was patchy, and repeatedly the desire for peac was overwhelmed by destructive forces, yet gradually the hope of multilateral coorporation for mutual benefit and to prevent war became ingrained in Western Europe.
Nature of conflict: interstate and intrastate
Interstate
Conventional war - conventional war is thuse of large, well-organised military forces,. Both world wars were conventional wars, as were the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iran-Iraq War, the two Gulf Warrs and many more.
Nuclear War - nuclear war involves the use of Nuclear or Hydrogen Bombs. Since 1945 the number of types of nuclear weapons has increased. Currently, nuclear weapons are possessed by the US, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel.
Cyber-warfare - a cyber-attack can direct a carefully engineered packet of data towards systems that control essential infrastructure, such as power stations, dams, airports, hospitals, electricity grids or financial systems. It can affect:
Internet nodes
Defence systems
Networks and computer systems
Telecommunications infrastructure
The stock market nuclear power plants
Critical infrastructure such as electricity grids
Water supply
Transportation systems
Health infrastructure
Cold war - the cold war is the name given to the state armed, uneasy peace between the United States and the USSR (the superpowers) between 1947 and 1991. it involved rivalry in almost every political, economic, military and strategic matter but did not lead to direct war. Intrastate
Civil war - a civil war is a conflict between two or more sides within one country. Prominent examples are the American Civil War (1861-65) and the War in Lebanon in the 1980s. Both the Korean War (1950-53) and the Vietnam were civil wars in that thee were two