'World Politics Since 1989' by Jonathan Holslag
1989 was the year of hope as crowds took to the streets of Prague and Beijing, the Berlin Wall fell, and the Soviet Union began to dissolve. But the expected new age of peace, prosperity and democracy proved elusive and by 2016, the world was spinning backward. During the intervening years, pressing problems of environmental degradation were met with fine talk but little action from governments and international agencies. What happened?
Jonathan Holslag, professor of international politics at the Free University of Brussels, addresses multiple reasons for the failure of expectations in World Politics Since 1989. “There is no single explanation for the upsurge of nationalism and turbulence,” he writes before exploring a complicated web of causes. He adds that one factor is “the failure of politics to deal with complexity, its proclivity for black and white.” The shrillness of post-Cold War democracy in the West has reduced the opportunity for constructive discussion, much less constructive compromise.
Holslag repeatedly cites the problems caused by rampant consumerism in the West—hungry not only for the world’s raw resources but cheap labor for processing those materials into cheap goods. The much-touted global economy kept many nations poor and envious, with benefits falling only to narrow elites. In China’s case, the Communist Party’s will to crush dissent and succeed on the world stage brought its backward economy (and military ambitions) to the fore. China play-acted the West’s game of trade agreements and “reform,” feeding a growing dependence on its exports while insulating itself from the demands of other nations. It’s China first agenda as the colossus of Asia (and beyond) is being fulfilled.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
When the Soviet Bloc collapsed, the U.S. became the center of world politics, a role that was soon contested by regional powers such as Iran, India and Russia and eventually, on the global stage, by China. Even nations allied with the U.S. used the new world order to grow their own economic and technical development as America and the West stagnated in many sectors. Holslag excoriates the Western democracies for lacking “the wisdom to use power with prudence on the global scene.” Reacting to 911, George W. Bush called on Americans to go shopping before launching a pair of costly invasions that ultimately failed in their objectives and destabilized the Near East.
World Politics Since 1989 is written with clarity but little elegance, reading a bit like lecture notes compiled into a book. “Since ancient times, philosopher have insisted that dominance portends exuberance, complacency, and decline,” Holslag reminds readers. What’s surprising, he insists, is not that a power shift is occurring but the “state of denial” within a society based on “printing money, encouraging strategic adversaries to sustain cheap exports, and of increasing external debt.”
Holslag would not have been surprised by Putin’s moves in Ukraine (World Politics was published before the invasion) but might be heartened by the Western alliance’s unified response.
