History is written by the war victors and they have the dominating power to orchestrate the truth that circulates. The winner gets the right to call himself a super hero. Meanwhile, those who lose must assume the label of Villain. So, what if the second world war was won by Hitler? and the Soviet Union was the winner of the cold war? through this view, it would be understandable for Kim Jong Un to be a hero and role model for his people in North Korea. Now, let’s try to stretch our imagination a little wider, not only in terms of national politics but internationally. Can we still believe that we are individuals who have independence of thought ? or are we the product of the truth portrayed by the owners of the dominant power in international politics today? Civilisation is governed and led by the dominant power. If the world has two dominant powers, there will be a struggle for dominance. But if the world has only a single dominant power, it will be the ruler and catalyst for world civilisation.
Indeed, the two dominant paradigms in International Relations – Realism and Liberalism – believe that the reality of the world falls under the scientific pattern described by their paradigms. Liberalism views the world with optimism since it believes that basic human instincts are good and believes that international actors have a tendency to cooperate and collaborate. Meanwhile, Realism views the world with pessimism since it believes that every international actor always thinks rationally and prioritises the struggle for power (Rosyidin, 2022). In reality, the values of liberalism have the endorsement of the world’s current dominant actor, the United States. The end of the cold war signalled that the United States became the world’s sole superpower and thus the values of liberalism attached to it became the world’s main source of reference through its power relations. Through its dominance, the United States and western countries confidently campaign for the values of liberalism throughout the world.
However, the reality of this decade shows that the world today is a lot more logical when viewed through the lens of realism than liberalism. It is quite difficult to perceive optimistically the power-oriented world politics. In fact, countries that proclaim themselves to embrace liberalism are now increasingly showing themselves to be part of the realist actors. On the one hand they campaign for the value of liberalism, but on the other hand they act as described by realism. The spread of ideas such as freedom, equality, democracy, and human rights by western countries to the world has become a lip-service as the words and practices are contradictory.
The facts show that the world’s dominant actors are currently denying the various forms of values that they promote throughout the world. The policy of selective judgement and double standards is increasingly being applied by United States and Western countries (Ayyash, 2023). United States and its allies easily condemn Russia’s intervention against Ukraine, but at the same time they are reluctant to condemn Israel for attacking Palestine (Wintour, 2023). United States, which often places itself as the international police, is in fact powerless in the face of various violations of international law committed by Israel. It is extremely difficult for the United States to declare that Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians even though various indicators that lead to it have been fulfilled. They are not only turning a blind eye to the ongoing occupation, but more than that, they are contributing in supporting the genocide and occupation by Israel against the Palestinians (Al Jazeera, 2024).
The attitude of United States and Western countries that tend to be realist is being shown wide open at the moment. However, this attitude is in fact nothing new, but simply reinforces the thesis that international actors are rational actors and fight for power in order to exist in an anarchic environment. This hypocrisy has in fact been going on since the beginning of the end of the cold war (the beginning of United States’ sole dominance). During the 1990s, while the dominant international actors began to campaign to abolish colonialism in the world and fight for liberal values, at the same time they failed repeatedly to stop various genocides that took place in the world, such as: Herzegovina, Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia (Ahmad, 1998) (Human Right Watch, 1995) (International Affairs Forum, 2024) (Najeeb, 2022). The majority of countries within the United Nations tend to remain silent when these injustices occur, as if anything can happen as long as they are safe and not endangered. Currently, the United Nations is trapped in the process towards its failure to prevent the umpteenth genocide (Israel against Palestine). In fact, Power is still the main instrument in directing international policy, as carried out by the US through its veto in the United Nations to support Israel (Al Jazeera, 2024).
During the 2000s, power still played a major role in legitimising various unfavourable actions (favouring one and harming the other). If the law requires evidence in making accusations, this does not apply to United States, exercising its power, it can freely impose accusations and actions on anyone even with a one-sided claim (without evidence). On 19 May 2003, the US sent troops to Iraq to overthrow Saddam Husain’s regime and destroy any weapons of mass destruction (WMD) (Council on Foreign Relations, 2024). Saddam Husain’s regime fell in 2003, but the operation continued for 8 years and the invasion ended with no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This proved that the US had made false accusations to legitimise its operation against Iraq. However, 300,000 lives were lost, precious historical relics were destroyed, and civilians are still displaced from their homes (Duggal, 2023).
Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely (Lazarski, 2023). In fact, trias politica applied in a democratic government remains unable to eliminate corruption. Even democratic systems equipped with the trias politica system sometimes produce oligarchic governments and authoritarian governments. It stands to reason that an anarchic international system will eventually give the largest portion of power to the dominant power. Therefore, the balance of power in the current anarchic environment is one of the reasonable options to reduce the dominance of United States and western countries in monopolising power in international politics. The following question is: Who are the current global political actors that might challenge the United States’ influence?
Rosyidin, M. (2022). Realisme versus Liberalisme: Suatu Perbandingan Paradigmatis. Indonesian Perspective, 134-144.
Ayyash, M. M. (2023, October 19). The West’s double standards are once again on display in Israel and Palestine. Retrieved from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-wests-double-standards-are-once-again-on-display-in-israel-and-palestine-215759
Wintour, P. (2023, December 26). Why US double standards on Israel and Russia play into a dangerous game. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/26/why-us-double-standards-on-israel-and-russia-play-into-a-dangerous-game
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Najeeb, M. (2022, Oktober). The Bosnian Genocide: The UN’s Ultimate Failure. Retrieved from ParadigmShift: https://www.paradigmshift.com.pk/bosnian-genocide/
Al Jazeera. (2024, February 2). World slams US ceasefire veto at UN Security Council on Israel’s Gaza war. Retrieved from Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/world-condemns-uss-latest-un-security-council-veto-on-gaza-ceasefire
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Duggal, H. (2023, April 5). ‘We are still displaced,’ 20 years after the Iraq war. Retrieved from Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/4/5/iraq-war-20-years-on-visualising-the-impact-of-the-invasion
Lazarski, C. (2023). Lord Acton for Our Time. Jstore: Cornell University Press.