The recent United States–Israeli strikes on Iran may prove to be more than another episode in the long history of Middle Eastern conflict. The attacks on Iranian nuclear and military facilities triggered retaliatory missile exchanges, disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and prompted warnings from the United Nations that the region could slide towards wider war.

Yet the crisis carries a broader significance: it reflects a global recalibration of power that is steadily eroding the political and intellectual order built after 1945.

Diplomatic reactions to the strikes revealed a familiar alignment. Washington and Tel Aviv acted in close coordination, while Iran received political backing from Russia and China, both of which criticised the escalation. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, warned that continued attacks could destabilise the region, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres cautioned that the conflict risked undermining international peace and security.

In a wider context, these statements signal the re-emergence of geopolitical blocs. The United States and its partners increasingly operate within one strategic orbit, while China, Russia, and Iran form another centre of resistance to Western influence. Countries such as India attempt to navigate between these poles, maintaining ties with Washington while preserving relations with Moscow and Tehran. The resulting landscape resembles an older international system organised less by universal rules than by alliances and balances of power.

To understand why these patterns are reappearing, one must look at the intellectual foundations of the post-war order.

For nearly eight decades, Western political thought promoted the idea that liberal democracy, globalisation, and international law represented the natural direction of human progress. Governments, universities, and international institutions assumed that societies would gradually converge on a model shaped by Western experience.

Social scientists provided the theoretical framework for this belief. Talcott Parsons, Walt Rostow, and........

© The Friday Times