Drawing upon his new book, The Once and Future World Order, the speaker will reflect on China’s past, current and future world order-making, addressing the opportunities and challenges it faces in reshaping global governance, Asian security and great power relations. He argues that while the end of the US- or West-dominated world order has much to do with China’s rise, this does not mean a Chinese-dominated world order is emerging. Rather, China will be one of the key players in a multiplex world, rather than a conventional multipolar or G2 world. The speaker calls for revisiting the traditional notion of a Chinese World Order developed by scholars such as John K. Fairbank.
Amitav Acharya is Distinguished Professor and the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC. Previously, he was a Professor at York University, Toronto and University of Bristol, UK, Fellow of Harvard University’s Asia Center and John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Christensen Fellow at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Acharya is a former President International Studies Association (ISA), the largest and most influential global network in international studies. His books include The Making of Global International Relations (Cambridge 2019: with Barry Buzan); Constructing Global Order (Cambridge 2018); The End of American World Order (Polity 2014, 2018); Why Govern? Rethinking Demand and Progress in Global Governance (editor, Cambridge 2016); and Whose Ideas Matter (Cornell 2009). His articles have appeared in International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Asian Studies, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Peace Research, International Affairs, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics. His most recent book is The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West (New York and London: Basic Books, 2025). Aside from his academic writings, he has published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, among others and he has appeared on BBC, CNN, CBS News, CGTN, and Al-Jazeera. The first non-Western scholar to be elected (for 2014-15) the President of the International Studies Association (ISA), he has received three ISA Distinguished Scholar Awards, which recognize his 'contribution to non-Western IR theory and inclusion' in international studies, his 'influence, intellectual works and mentorship' in the field of international organization; and his 'extraordinary impact' in globalizing the study of International Relations and 'mentorship of emerging scholars'.
Amitav Acharya is Distinguished Professor and the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC. Previously, he was a Professor at York University, Toronto and University of Bristol, UK, Fellow of Harvard University’s Asia Center and John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Christensen Fellow at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Acharya is a former President International Studies Association (ISA), the largest and most influential global network in international studies. His books include The Making of Global International Relations (Cambridge 2019: with Barry Buzan); Constructing Global Order (Cambridge 2018); The End of American World Order (Polity 2014, 2018); Why Govern? Rethinking Demand and Progress in Global Governance (editor, Cambridge 2016); and Whose Ideas Matter (Cornell 2009). His articles have appeared in International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Asian Studies, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Peace Research, International Affairs, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics. His most recent book is The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West (New York and London: Basic Books, 2025). Aside from his academic writings, he has published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, among others and he has appeared on BBC, CNN, CBS News, CGTN, and Al-Jazeera. The first non-Western scholar to be elected (for 2014-15) the President of the International Studies Association (ISA), he has received three ISA Distinguished Scholar Awards, which recognize his 'contribution to non-Western IR theory and inclusion' in international studies, his 'influence, intellectual works and mentorship' in the field of international organization; and his 'extraordinary impact' in globalizing the study of International Relations and 'mentorship of emerging scholars'.