If you’ve heard the phrase “new world order” before, it probably has the word conspiracy attached to it. And, with all the information there’s online about it, it was to be a joke, right? Well, if we go back in history, there have been many world leaders and great wars discussing the need for a New World Order, but what does it really mean and do we have one?
New global world order definition
New World Order Symbol, istockphoto.com
The 'new world order' is a term used historically to discuss the need for changes in the balance of power in international relations. However, this term's meaning and political discussion are highly tainted by the conspiracy theory.
The political concept refers to the idea of world government in the sense of new collaborative initiatives to identify, comprehend, or resolve global problems beyond individual countries' power to solve.
Balance of power: international relations theory where states can ensure their survival by preventing any single state or bloc from acquiring sufficient military force to dominate.
Plan for the New World Order
According to George Bush Snr, there are three key points to create a New Global World Order:
Changing the offensive use of force and moving towards the rule of law.
Transforming geopolitics to a collective security agreement.
Using international cooperation as the most incredible power.
Collective security: A political, regional, or global security arrangement in which each country in the system recognises the security of a single country, is the security of all nations and builds a commitment to a collective reaction to conflicts, threats, and disruption of peace.
While the New World Order was never a built policy, it became an influential factor in domestic and international relations and legislation that changed how Bush dealt with foreign policy. The Gulf War is an example of this. However, many criticised Bush as he could not bring to life the term.
The New World Order as a concept was born as a need after the Cold War, but it wasn't until the Gulf Crisis that we saw the first steps in building it as a reality.
Initially, the new world order focused entirely on nuclear disarmament and security agreements. Mikhail Gorbachev would then expand the concept to strengthen the UN and superpower cooperation on several economic and security issues. Following that, implications for NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and European integration were included. The Gulf War crisis refocused the phrase on regional problems and superpower collaboration. Finally, the incorporation of the Soviets into the international system and changes in economic and military polarity all attracted more attention. New Global World Order 2000 - Key takeaways
The new world order in US history
After World Wars I and II, political leaders such as Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill introduced the term "new world order" to global politics to describe a new era of history marked by a profound shift in world political philosophy and the worldwide balance of power. Specifically, it was introduced with Woodrow Wilson's attempt to build a League of Nations that was aimed at avoiding another World War. After the Second World War, it was clear that this had failed, and so the United Nations was established in 1945 to try to increase cooperation and prevent a third world war, in essence, to create a new world order. Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of The United States. He was president during World War I and created the League of Nations afterwards. It was drastically changing the economic and international policies in the United States.
The League of Nations was the first global intergovernmental organisation whose primary goal was to keep the world at peace. The Paris Peace Conference, which ended World War I, was established on January 10, 1920. However, on April 20, 1946, the leading organisation ended its operations.
President Woodrow Wilson never actually used the word "New World Order," but similar terms such as "New Order of the World" and "New Order."
The Cold War
The phrase's most highly publicised application was recently after the Cold War ended. Leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. Bush explained the situation of the post-Cold War era and the hopes of materialising a great power collaboration as the New World Order.
Mikhail Gorbachev is a former Soviet politician from Russia. He was the Communist Party General Secretary and the Head of State of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.
Mikhail Gorbachev, Yuryi Abramochkin, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Mikhail Gorbachev's speech at the United Nations General Assembly on December 7, 1988, served as the foundation for the new world order concept. His proposal featured a long number of recommendations for establishing a new order. But, first, he called for the UN's core position to be strengthened and the active participation of all members because the Cold War had prohibited the UN and its Security Council from completing their tasks as intended.
He also lobbied for Soviet membership in several important international institutions, including the International Court of Justice. In his view of collaboration, strengthening the UN's peacekeeping function and acknowledging that superpower cooperation can lead to the settlement of regional crises. However, he maintained that using or threatening to use force was no longer acceptable and that the powerful must show restraint toward the vulnerable.
As such, many saw the United Nations, and especially the involvement of powers like the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War, as the true beginning of the new world order.
The Gulf War
Many considered the Gulf War of 1991 to be first test of the new world order. During the run-up to the Gulf War, Bush followed some of Gorbachev’s steps by taking action on a superpower collaboration that later linked the new order's success to the international community's response in Kuwait.
In 1990, at the hands of his president Sadam Hussein, Iraq invaded Kuwait, which started the Gulf War, an armed conflict between Iraq and a coalition of 35 nations led by the United States.
On September 11, 1990, George H. Bush gave a speech in a joint session of Congress called "Toward a New World Order." The main points he emphasised were1:
The need to lead the world with the rule of law instead of force.
The Gulf War as a warning that the United States must continue to lead and that military strength is necessary. However, the new world order that resulted would make military force less critical in the future.
That the new world order was built on Bush-Gorbachev cooperation rather than US-Soviet cooperation, and that personal diplomacy left the deal extremely vulnerable.
Integration of the Soviet Union into international economic institutions such as the G7 and the formation of connections with the European Community.
Finally, Gorbachev's focus shifted to local matters in his country and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Bush couldn't bring the New World Order to life by himself, so it became a utopian project that didn't materialise.
The Soviet Union was a communist state located in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 that heavily impacted the global landscape in the 20th century. Later the 1980s and 1990s, the countries within the nation made reforms of independence due to ethnic differences, corruption, and economic deficiencies. Concluded its dissolution by 1991.
Facts about and implications of the new world order
Some argue that we can see a new world order every time the global political landscape has changed drastically due to the collaboration of several countries, which has caused a huge expansion in globalisation and increased interdependence in international relations, with both global and local consequences.
Globalisation: Is the global process of interaction and integration between individuals, businesses, and governments.
President Bush and Gorbachev’s plan for the new world order was based on international cooperation. Although there's no current new world order plan in the works, globalisation has increased the cooperation between countries and people on almost every level and therefore introduced a new world different from the one Bush and Gorbachev lived in.
"More than one small country; it is a big idea; a new world order" President Bush, 19912.
New World Order - Key takeaways
- The new world order is an ideological concept of world government in the sense of new collaborative initiatives to identify, comprehend, or resolve global problems beyond individual countries' power to solve.
- Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill introduced a "new world order" to global politics to describe a new era of history marked by a profound shift in world political philosophy and the worldwide balance of power.
- Gorbachev and George H. Bush explained the situation of the era post-Cold War and the hopes of materialising a great power collaboration as the New World Order
- The Gulf War of 1991 was regarded as the first test of the new world order.
- While the new world order was never a built policy, it became an influential factor in domestic and international relations and legislation
References
- George H. W. Bush. September 11, 1990. US National Archive
- Joseph Nye, What New World Order?, 1992.
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