When a missile is fired in West Asia, a family in Delhi, London, Tokyo or New York may never hear the blast. But within a few days, they can feel its impact through higher fuel prices, costlier food, unstable stock markets and growing worries about the future. In today’s connected world, wars do not remain limited to distant battlefields or borders of fighting countries. Their effects cross borders and oceans, touching the lives of millions of people who have no direct connection with the conflict.

The widening confrontation involving Iran, Israel and the United States has once again demonstrated how fragile the global order has become. The crisis has shaken energy markets, unsettled investors and forced governments worldwide to review security and economic preparations. European nations are strengthening defence readiness. Asian powers are reassessing strategic risks. Import-dependent economies are preparing for possible supply disruptions. Yet the latest West Asia crisis is only one piece of a much larger and more troubling picture.

The world today is witnessing the highest number of armed conflicts since the end of the Second World War. According to recent conflict-monitoring data, around 60 state-based conflicts and over 120 armed conflicts of various kinds are ongoing across the globe. Roughly two-thirds of the world’s countries are involved in some form of territorial or maritime dispute. While not all these disputes will become wars, their sheer number increases the chances that a local crisis could spiral into something much larger.

Have we learned from the past? History has warned us many times. Before the First World War broke out in 1914, no one expected a global war. But just the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, one incident, triggered a chain reaction that quickly pulled countries across continents into a devastating war.Today, the world appears to be facing a similar situation. Many countries are dealing with growing rivalries, military build-ups, strategic alliances and long-standing disputes. While no one may be seeking a major conflict, history shows that even a small event can sometimes trigger consequences far beyond anyone’s expectations as we have started believing too much in technology and machines and less on human judgement.  What makes it further dangerous is that the institutions designed to prevent such catastrophes are much under strain.

The international........

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