Description
We seem to live amid an entangled series of order-shaking events and processes: the death, disease, and economic catastrophe wrought by a global pandemic, resurgent forms of transnational racism, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, amplified tensions between the US and China, and the existential threat of climate change. Amid a fragile moment, what is the future of international order? For political realists, we are destined to find a familiar tragedy return to the stage: great power politics. As Mearsheimer (2019) argues, political order can only exist under unipolarity, where there is a hegemonic state enforcing the rules. A multipolar world, however, promises a return to the tragedy of power politics. In this essay, I assess the realist arguments and speculate on the future of international order from the perspective of American Pragmatism, particularly those pragmatists that theorize race and cultural diversity. I draw upon Alain Locke and Eddie Glaude to articulate how pragmatism might help us confront a world of plural interests and rethink tragedy not as an end to political transformation but as an affective resource from which to act.
