Journal on Policy & Complex Systems Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2014 | Page 164

������������������������������������
Root takes the case of the relationship between Sri Lanka , the West and China as an illustrative example . China has made large investments in Sri Lanka over the last five years usurping , to some extent , Western influence . China does not attempt to impose values or a template of development but rather ensures economic cooperation through public / private financial relationships that bypass democratic or international scrutiny . Long-term economic relationships have matured into shared values . Yet democracy can suffer because those relationships are cemented with incumbent elites outside of democratic transparency . This leaves the West looking hypocritical and powerless . Sri Lanka does not need Western loans so can ignore western finger pointing on human rights and corruption issues , for example . China does not give lectures on democracy or human rights .
Root identifies a similar pattern in China ’ s relationship with many other peripheral nations . He argues that this could be the basis for a new Eastern world order in opposition to the Western version . But then what should the West do if it wishes to preserve its values and power in international affairs ?
What the West should want is not to force change within China , but to work with China to mitigate risks that global outliers pose to system stability . Walking away from Libya empty-handed after its embrace of Gaddafi should serve as a warning of the danger of being too close to regimes that abuse their own people and of investing in leaders , rather than the well-being of the population . ( p . 214 )
Root sees the future as an evolving ecology of players interacting through highly interconnected dynamic networks of trade , power and information in which policy preferences , norms and beliefs will no longer emanate from Western models . Rather a co-evolutionary process will create novel institutional structures arising from fusions between traditional beliefs and myopically discovered strategies that address current challenges . Traditional influence and trade networks will fragment . New sources of soft power will emerge . Can this be a basis for a new international order bringing peace and prosperity ? And will the nation state itself survive ?
Root argues that although many have predicted the end of the nation state , the 2008 financial crisis reinforced its role . While undermining the power and hegemony of the Western nations it paradoxically increased the belief in the role of the state within emerging players using different models . He also argues that material aspirations , consumerism and identity politics alone will not be sufficient to either converge or diverge the ecology . Though each will play its part in the mix . Economically , this implies a challenge for all countries aspiring to rise high on the value chain :
The domestic policy challenge will be to construct public goods that enable networks of adaptive individuals , firms , and nations to interact on the basis of self-organizing complexity . ( p . 233 )
Yet policy lags behind , particularly within international relations :
Why do conventional theories of international relations rely on the notion that solving social dilemmas of collective action requires a captain at the helm ? ( p . 234 )
162