India, Aug. 30 -- A timely tome by Amitav Acharya, who teaches global affairs at American University, Washington, DC, The Once and Future World Order draws on historical examples to convey a sense of cautious optimism, not about a peaceful world but about a more inclusive one.

A sweeping take on history, not geopolitics, the book delves deep into the world of the past and then swivels to the world of tomorrow. To that extent, it is not as much about contemporary flux or major power contestation as it is about the future order in which the decline of the West is accompanied by greater agency for outlier nations, which are termed "the Rest". These closely approximate the Global South of today and go by heritage labels such as the G-77 and ...