Historian Edward Mortimer once wrote, “A World War is like a furnace, it melts the world down and makes it malleable.”
The unravelling of the world disorder has been time and again predicted by many foreign affairs experts. With the United States (US)–China trade war, decline of multilateralism, ineffectiveness of the World Trade Organization, United Nations (UN) and other multilateral institutions, often divergent approaches to climate change, refugee crisis, increase in polarisation of global politics and rise of fundamentalism, all contributed to the chasm in world politics. Then came the pandemic that led to severe disruptions, human suffering, ineffective handling of the World Health Organization, vaccine nationalism, further accentuating the complexities in global governance.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has topped it all. It has challenged the post-Cold War order, which was trying to build a multipolar order through dialogue, cooperation and politico-economic ties among nations. The Ukraine war has thrown the world into chaos, uncertainty and unpredictability. It has eroded the trade frameworks and distorted supply chains. This has also led to levels of food and retail inflation. Additionally, the steep rise in oil prices have been affecting energy security worldwide.
This reading list attempts to examine the evolving context of the Russia–Ukraine conflict, its geopolitical spillovers, and its effects on the present world order.
