New World Order: From Gunboat Politics to Civilizational Texture

07.27.2025

By Valikhan Tuleshov

The global order is undergoing a profound transformation—from the dominance of a single superpower to a textured coexistence of multiple civilizations. This is not merely a shift in geopolitics, but a fundamental redefinition of how power, culture, and cooperation are structured in the 21st century.

The political disruptions of the last decade, particularly during the administration of Donald Trump, signaled a break from the post-Cold War unipolar system. The world is no longer governed by a singular center of power. Nor is it simply evolving into a multipolar balance among nation-states. What is emerging instead is a landscape of civilizational pluralism. Regions such as the West, China, the Islamic world, India, the Turkic world, Latin America, and Africa are beginning to assert themselves as distinct civilizational cores.

This transformation is more than geopolitical rivalry—it is the formation of a world defined by cultural and political coexistence. Dominance is giving way to mutual presence. Civilizations will increasingly define themselves not by their supremacy over others, but by their ability to interweave, cooperate, and coexist through what might be called “civilizational texture.”

At the same time, the financial architecture of the world is shifting. A digital, multi-currency order is taking shape, gradually eroding the absolute hegemony of the U.S. dollar. Blockchain-based currencies, regional stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are being developed across the globe. Traditional financial systems like SWIFT are beginning to give way to transnational settlement platforms more aligned with regional and civilizational priorities.

What is emerging can be described as a tectonofinancial network—where monetary instruments function not only as means of exchange but also as semantic tokens of identity and cultural affiliation. Much like how the dollar and the euro represent the strategic interests of the United States and the European Union, new currencies will begin to reflect and support the unique civilizational paths of their issuers.

This broader reorganization also extends into the economic sphere. The once-dominant model of globalization, built on a vertically integrated and often exploitative production chain, is evolving. Tariffs, sanctions, and geopolitical friction have catalyzed the rise of proportionality and interdependent autonomy. In its place, a new model is gaining ground—glocalization. Countries are increasingly focused on strengthening domestic capabilities in critical sectors while remaining open to external exchange. Rather than concentrating production hierarchically, economies are forming horizontal partnerships grounded in cultural and technological compatibility. This is already visible in nations like Kazakhstan, which are balancing national resilience with international cooperation.

Culturally and politically, we are also seeing a move away from the ideology-driven expansionism that characterized much of the 20th century. Missionary efforts to export political systems and values are being replaced by more reciprocal forms of engagement. In their place, platforms of cultural diplomacy and civilizational mediation are emerging—spaces where societies exchange stories, traditions, myths, and technologies, rather than attempt to remake one another. This shift is evident in regional blocs such as the European Union and in experimental cross-cultural partnerships like the United Territories, where cooperation is built on mutual respect rather than moral imposition.

Perhaps most transformative of all is the role of artificial intelligence. Far from being a neutral or universalizing technology, AI is becoming a cultural and civilizational force in its own right. Civilizational AI cores are beginning to form—systems trained not just on universal data but on the linguistic, ethical, and symbolic frameworks of specific civilizations. Arabic AI, Turkic AI, Sinogenic AI, and Indo-Buddhist AI—each is emerging to reflect its cultural foundation. Rather than erasing difference, AI has the potential to manage diversity, navigate complexity, anticipate conflict, and align multilateral interests in an increasingly plural world.

Looking upward and outward, space and climate are fast becoming the shared frontiers of global cooperation. Unlike traditional domains of diplomacy, space exploration and environmental preservation transcend national and ideological divisions. They represent common horizons that require collective stewardship. A stable and legitimate global order in the 21st century will be impossible without a unified climate architecture and collaborative action beyond Earth. These domains are becoming the ultimate terrains of scientific diplomacy and planetary responsibility—even if not all states are prepared to embrace that responsibility yet.

The world that is emerging is not governed by force, colonial extraction, or homogenizing technology. It is one where sovereignty coexists with openness, where digital innovation preserves rather than erases culture, and where economic and political systems reflect the nuanced textures of global civilizations. This is the textured world—a world of coexistence without coercion, sovereignty without isolation, and progress without cultural erasure. It is a new world order in the making, shaped not by gunboats and empires, but by the shared complexity of civilizations learning to live together.