Tudi zahodni intelektualci postopoma dojemajo, da smo prišli do točke preloma z ameriško globalno hegemonijo. Kitajsko-ruska-arabska vrednostno-nevtralna alternativa se je v državah “globalnega juga” izkazala kot bolj privlačna alternativa od ameriške kulturne hegemonije. Toda zavedanje nove realnosti med zahodnimi intelektualci gre še dlje, utrjuje se priznavanje, da na ameriških “vrednotah temelječa pravila” svetovnega reda niso univerzalni civilizacijski princip, pač pa da je možen tudi nov normativni sistem, ki temelji na “funkcionalni, vrednostno nevtralni, situacijski in diplomatski etiki” kot principa urejanja vzajemnih odnosov med svetovnimi silami. Drugače rečeno, kot pravi Arta Moeini iz Carnegie Council’s U.S. Global Engagement Initiative (USGE):

“Namesto da poskušamo vsiljevati svoje vrednote drugim (ne glede na to, kako dobre ali prave mislimo, da so), bi morali na Zahodu dati prednost sodelovanju z drugimi velikimi silami na podlagi skupnih interesov in ciljev.“

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Regardless of how it eventually concludes, the Russo-Ukrainian War represents a seismic event signaling profound changes in the global landscape. The unipolar era is at its end, major countries are more concerned with their cultural sovereignty and strategic autonomy than they have been in decades, and it seems inevitable that the once-dominant Western hegemony must gradually yield to a more diverse and multipolar system.

The period following World War II witnessed the ascendancy of the United States and its allies as architects of a new international order premised on the institutionalization of Western values such as democracy and human rights. This Western-centric approach to global governance—known as the “rules-based order”—has encountered mounting challenges. China’s rise, Russia’s geopolitical subversiveness, and the growing assertiveness of emerging powers from the Global South have eroded Western dominance. The outcome is a more diverse world, characterized by multiple centers of power coexisting, challenging any single ideology or set of substantive values.

We live in a period we should perhaps call the Great Transition. We are witnessing the emergence of a polycentric, regionalist, and interest-based order centered around middle powers and civilizational states: These states hold historic disagreements and rivalries but are nevertheless united in rejecting a U.S.-led system, which they consider the latest instantiation of a Western exceptionalism and colonial hubris that abhors genuine difference and opposing worldviews.

With peer great power China putting its weight behind this informal non-aligned axis and the non-Western economic bloc BRICS expanding to six new members including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina in 2024, trepidations have risen among U.S. and European observers as to the future of the international order they created and underwrote since 1945.

While a crux of these worries stems from questions of power and structural change—after all, no great power (certainly not one that spent more than two decades as the undisputed global superpower) looks kindly at being challenged by peer rivals—this transition also raises crucial questions about future international norms and the ethics that should underpin them. In the halls of power in Brussels, London, and Washington DC, one hears lots of talk about the threat to the “rules-based” order or the importance of a “values-based” foreign policy. According to these elites, to not protect the extant status quo and its normative framework is an inexcusable offense presaging the fall into tyranny.

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In a polycentric world, cultivating a functional, instrumentalist, and value-neutral ethic is essential. This ethic prioritizes the functionality of international norms over the imposition of specific, substantive values. Rather than exporting Western-style democracy or neoliberal values, it focuses on fostering dialogue, mutual recognition, conflict resolution, and the pursuit of common interests among diverse nations.

Such an ethic, inspired by older diplomatic norms and practices that eschew compliance and coercion, acknowledges that different cultures, societies, and nations have their unique substantive values and belief systems. It does not seek to impose a single set of values but facilitates dialogue and cooperation based on shared objectives.This approach recognizes that a global diversity of worldviews and values is a reality of human life, and promoting global homogeneity and conformity can be corrosive over time, causing distrust and conflict.

The way forward in this era of global cultural pluralism lies in cultivating a modus vivendi, a way of coexisting that recognizes and tolerates differences while heeding the pragmatic need for understanding, cooperation, and stability in a complex world often facing global challenges. Derived from a new cultural realism, this modus vivendi should endeavor to discover the apposite principles that would allow it to function with less conflict: they include non-universalism, mutual respect, inclusivity, and the recognition of the rank and status of all major powers and civilizations—irrespective of their values, ideologies, or ways of life.

In such a world, international norms and rules would be based on a value-neutral ethic that creates objective protocols of engagement to facilitate communication and avoid misunderstanding. They cannot amount to the top-down imposition of a particular set of values and ideology for all to follow.

Our particular sense of morality in the West should not stop us from aspiring to pursue what’s both wise and right. The evolving international order, characterized by polycentrism and multipolarity, challenges the conventional Western-dominated “rules-based” order. Drawing from Nietzsche’s perspective on values, we recognize that values are context-dependent rather than innate, timeless, or universal. Similarly, the decline of our ancien regime does not spell the end of international ethics. If the current transition is understood correctly, it could promise the birth of a new normative system based on a functional, value-neutral, situational, and diplomatic ethic that has its primary concern in managing reciprocal relations between world powers.

Instead of attempting to impose our values on others (no matter how good or true we think they are), we in the West should prioritize engagement with other major powers based on common interests and shared objectives. While relative power compared to neighbors will be the key determining factor in granting status to states, the U.S.-led West will nevertheless remain one of the poles in this new order. Yet to remain influential, it must adapt, foster the ethos of non-interference in realms outside of its own, and learn to treat other major states—both rivals and partners—as equals.

In sum, within the intellectual framework offered by cultural realism, we need an alternative instrumentalist and pragmatic ethic that 1) accepts the realities of power politics and spheres of interest without moralizing and projecting a Manichaean mentality upon the world, and 2) is grounded in principles that are conducive to a pluralist modus vivendi, including mutual and equal recognition, statesmanship, non-interference, humility, strategic empathy, and open dialogue.

This approach acknowledges the diversity of values in the world as an inescapable fact but harnesses it for a new equilibrium based on a balance of cultures and civilizations, not hostility or division. As we navigate the complexities of this emerging multiplex world, peaceful coexistence among all major powers—whether great or middle-tier—becomes the core intrinsic value in international relations. The key to achieving such coexistence is cultivating a global cultural pluralism that shuns black-and-white thinking and fosters tolerance. Failing to do so now could promote a spiral of exclusionary power politics and war, making a clash of civilizations and perhaps nuclear armageddon a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Vir: Arta Moeini, Carnegie Council’s U.S. Global Engagement Initiative