Pakistan waiting for Hobbes: Life in a new state of nature

https://arab.news/2gvky

For 75 years, we convinced ourselves that international law, free trade and global institutions had civilized the conduct of nations. But watching the return of raw power politics, territorial grabs and economic warfare, it is evident that underneath the thin veneer of modernity, global affairs remain what Thomas Hobbes called life in a state of nature— “nasty, brutish, and short.”

On the economic front, many are concerned about the future prospects of King dollar. In the old world, the US dollar’s dominance was largely as a function of the strength of US institutions like meritocracy and checks and balance, for example. In the emerging new world, the US dollar’s thronewill not depend on the quality of its central bankers or on the soundness of its fiscal policy. It will squarely rest on the unparalleled military might of the US. In a sense, now the US dollar can be thought of as a fiat currency with a fighter-jet guarantee. We will now no longer accept it not because of a shared belief in its intrinsic value, but because there is no credible alternative backed by such overwhelming force.

This distinction is not academic. Rather, it is the defining feature of our current moment.........

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