Online published on 24 November, 2011.
Under the rubric of globalisation, confidence soared for a world without trade barriers and major geopolitical strife. There are increasing signs however, that this century will be marked by mounting friction and even cold wars between rival capitalisms—democratic versus authoritarian. Instead of internalising Western norms, China, Russia and other authoritarian powers have been consolidating their ties in what is clearly a resurgent Second World. Once again competition between the First and Second Worlds engulfs the Third, offering it just two developmental options—the neo-liberal First Way or the neo-authoritarian Second Way. This study adumbrates a Third Way termed as the Delhi Consensus—a post-globalism, modelled on alternative “Asian values”, fostered by democratic India. The budding geopolitical bond between India and America offers the prototype for democratic geopolitics. Such an ethically defined realism will not “get the world out of history”, as neo-liberalism once promised, but may do much to recharge global democratisation and bridge the growing chasm between the world's haves and have-nots.
