The next domino
The Domino Theory explains how one event sets off a series of similar events. The theory is not attributed to any single author but is a concept that gained popularity during the Cold War. The theory suggested that if one country fell to communism, the neighbouring countries would also succumb to the same, like dominoes. Taking lead from this theory and the scholarly work and assumptions made by some scholars in international relations, I am inclined to postulate the next domino that the world may face.
The hypothesis of the next domino is based on the reality that the anarchic international system thrives, and no central authority has been able to end the ongoing conflicts between Iran and Israel, India and Pakistan, and in Ukraine and Gaza. These conflicts have not ended, and in two cases, active armed conflict may have been brought to an end, but no peace treaty or political framework exists to resolve them to the satisfaction of the combatants, thus entitling them to be termed as frozen conflicts.
In 2001, Professor Mearsheimer wrote the book, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. He argued that great powers will retain the desire to create and dominate a sphere of influence, balance against each other by building military capabilities; and their efforts to gain power and security will lead states into conflict.
In the unipolar moment of the world Robert D Kaplan wrote The Coming of Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of Post World Order in which he explained that in the coming years subnational actors (tribes, warlords, criminal outfits) will assert themselves; fragile and failed states will be the key contributors to global instability; overpopulation and........
© The Express Tribune
