Whatever we call the current historical juncture – polycrisis, rupture or just the possible end of civilisation as we know it – there is growing agreement that the stakes couldn’t be much higher for humanity. Even in atypically fortunate Australia, just recognising and agreeing on the nature and extent of the problems we face would be an achievement.

Coming up with credible-looking responses is a challenge of a different order. But some people are at least trying. Unsurprisingly, given the Trump administration’s role in creating or failing to respond to many of our collective dilemmas – be they military, economic or environmental – we need to look elsewhere for possible solutions.

One reason Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s recent speech at Davos attracted so much attention was that he drew attention to the nature of the problems we face, even if he was careful not to name its principal source.

Review: Triangle of Power: Rebalancing the New World Order – Alexander Stubb (Biteback Publishing)

The leader of another middle power, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb, is also careful not to attribute blame. But he goes much further than Carney in analysing the shortcomings of the current international order.

Stubb also has some useful ideas about what might be done. It is difficult to imagine they will be taken up as long as Donald Trump is in the White House, but Stubb’s book Triangle of Power is a reminder that we are a quite intelligent species, even if we continue to do unbelievably stupid things.

The triangle of power

At the centre of Stubb’s analysis of the increasingly fragile international order is the “triangle of power”. This is not an entirely new formulation, though Stubb rethinks some familiar ideas.

He describes the world as having three key clusters of countries, defined primarily but not exclusively by geography. The global west consists of the United States, Europe and other traditional allies, such as Japan, Canada and Australia. The global east is dominated by China, with Russian support, and includes the likes of North Korea, Belarus and Iran.

The global south is an established trope, but Stubb suggests it includes most of the countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East – more than half the world’s countries and population, in fact.

While most recent attention has, understandably, focused on the........

© The Conversation