• Home
  • /
  • Implications of the War in Ukraine for the World Order

Implications of the War in Ukraine for the World Order

Date of the session

09/29/2023

Mode of delivery

Pierrefonds Campus and on Zoom

Time of the session

4:00 pm

Guest Speaker

Mr Ali Mansoor

The World Order set up by the US and its allies after World War 2 is under stress. For the first time in history the dominant power did not set up an imperial system based on the law of the jungle. Instead the new order was based on the idea that for the US to be at peace and prosperous the whole world also needed to flourish. International institutions were created with rules that allowed all countries to thrive economically. US Naval power guaranteed freedom of the seas which has allowed anyone to trade from almost anywhere.

The current World Order has many deficiencies including a gap between the aspirations and execution. Academics and civil society can point to many areas where practice needs to be closer to ideals. However, changes in the World Order are more likely to come from actions by emerging powers such as China, India and Russia or an abdication by the US.

The changes that these three emerging powers are likely to make will not close the gap between aspirations and execution. Instead, they will bring us back to the law of the jungle where strong powers reserve the right to exert their authority within their perceived sphere of influence. Within America, the America First movement of Donald Trump seeks a retreat of the US into isolationism and allowing emerging powers to establish spheres of influence.

A return to the law of the jungle will not benefit small countries like Mauritius. With all its imperfections the current World Order has allowed many countries including Mauritius to prosper through open international trade, investment and labour flows.

The War in Ukraine has galvanized the West to defend the existing World Order. Even if Russia fails in Ukraine, the current World Order may end if Donald Trump is re-elected. However, the order will certainly fall apart if Russia prevails in Ukraine. Small countries like Mauritius need to hope for a Ukrainian victory and the rolling back of the America First isolationism in the US. Otherwise we will fare far less well in a return to the law of the jungle.

Register now

About the speaker

Ali Mansoor, is an Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius and the Chairman of the Regional Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence (RMCE). The RMCE is an Inter-Governmental Organization set up by the Government of Mauritius, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) to promote reform in Africa through peer learning and peer support. He is also advising the Organization of African, Carribean and Pacific States on mobilizing resources to build resilience and sustainability.

He served as the Financial Secretary in Mauritius from 2006 to 2013, where he formulated and implemented a wide-ranging reform program.

He was the first African Chair of the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) in 2012.

At the International Monetary Fund, he was an Assistant Director from 2013 to 2019 and headed the Development Issues Unit (responsible for developing IMF policy towards Developing countries) and oversaw one of the West African Divisions at the IMF and mission chief for Senegal.

He was CEO of the COMESA Clearing House (1997-1999) and led efforts to restructure the institution that resulted in the setting up with World Bank support of the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) .

He has also worked as a Lead Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for the Europe and Central Asia Region in the World Bank (2003-06); led evaluations in the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF (2001-03); been a senior economist in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (1999-2001) and spent three years at the EU Directorate for Development from 1992 to 1995.

He has written on resilience to natural disasters, regional integration, privatization, migration, fiscal decentralization, and capacity development. This includes three books he led and edited at the IMF on Middle Income Countries in Africa, the political economy of reform in Senegal and the informal sector in Africa.

He holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and MSc and BSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics.

He is fluent in English, French and Mauritian Kreol and has a level of beginner/intermediate Spanish.