What comes after American hegemony? In this book, Acharya and Pardesi compare the interplay of power and ideas in the ancient Mediterranean and Indian Ocean to explain why the two regions took divergent paths to peace and stability. They also discuss its lessons for international order today. While the ancient Mediterranean order was shaped by the hegemony of Rome, the Indian Ocean developed an open and inclusive international order without the dominance of any single power.

The global order is under assault from major powers. Normative and geopolitical revisionism have become widespread. This picture calls for a new partnership to reform and remake the international multilateral system, as well as to uphold rules, norms, and values. It is the middle powers that can take on this role. As both a middle power and a leading European actor, France is well-positioned to assume such a role.

Newton Niu is an award-winning documentary filmmaker from China, with nearly two decades of
experience working across state broadcast and independent production. His collaborative and independent
projects have received major international and Chinese awards, including recognition at IDFA and the
Sundance Film Festival.
Based on extensive fieldwork across almost all provinces in China, his work engages with contemporary
Chinese society, politics, and everyday governance, offering a distinctive ground-level perspective shaped

'Decolonising peacebuilding' challenges the dominance of Eurocentric, top-down models that have shaped international interventions, calling instead for approaches grounded in the histories, knowledge systems, and political struggles of communities most affected by conflict.