We no longer inhabit a world governed by international coordination, a unified NATO bloc, or an American hegemon. Traditionally, the decline of one empire leads to a restoration in the balance of power, via a struggle among rival systems of order. Yet this dynamic is surprisingly absent today; instead, the superpowers have all, at times, sought to promote what Jason Pack terms the Enduring Disorder.He contends that Libyas ongoing conflictmore so than the civil wars in Yemen, Syria, Venezuela or Ukraineconstitutes the ideal microcosm in which to identify the salient features of this new era of geopolitics. The countrys post-Qadhafi trajectory has been moulded by the stark absence of coherent international diplomacy; while Libyas incremental implosion has precipitated cross-border contagion, further corroding global institutions and international partnership.Pack draws on over two decades of research in and on Libya and Syria to highlight the Kafkaesque aspects of todays global affairs. He shows how even the threats posed by the Arab Spring, and the Benghazi assassination of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, couldnt occasion a unified Western response. Rather, they have further undercut global collaboration, demonstrating the self-reinforcing nature of the progressively collapsing world order.
