A multipolar world means that it's difficult for one hegemon to rise to power, especially nowadays. But it also means that various little squabbles can become shitshows (cf. WWI). Might-makes-right is terrifying to me because it means that any lunatic who can find and hold in a hegemon can fuck with me directly (cf. British imperialism ad European colonialism in general).
I prefer an international order regulated by voting nation-states, like the UN, but with the teeth to enforce the humanitarian goals of the laws it is in place to enforce. It's clear that the UN, like the LoN before it, is in terms of regulating international relations, a failure. (It does good work in health-care access, food distribution, and so on).
Might-makes-right has been the case for at least a couple thousand years in Western history, and the result has been dramatic differentials in standard-of-living between haves and have-nots ... but I identify more as a human being than I do as an American or even as a Texan, so I'd rather see power fractured and we take our chances with a harmonious concert rather than a conductor who will beat us over the head for any note not in the score.
I prefer an international order regulated by voting nation-states, like the UN, but with the teeth to enforce the humanitarian goals of the laws it is in place to enforce. It's clear that the UN, like the LoN before it, is in terms of regulating international relations, a failure. (It does good work in health-care access, food distribution, and so on).
Might-makes-right has been the case for at least a couple thousand years in Western history, and the result has been dramatic differentials in standard-of-living between haves and have-nots ... but I identify more as a human being than I do as an American or even as a Texan, so I'd rather see power fractured and we take our chances with a harmonious concert rather than a conductor who will beat us over the head for any note not in the score.
