ABSTRACT
This chapter details the competition for hegemony between rival forces, including the civilisational-states of China and Russia, which are based on a claim to embody unique cultural, ethnic and familial relationships that encompass communities both at home and abroad. The global revolt against liberalism bears the hallmarks of what the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci called “interregnum”. As Gramsci argued, the interregnum is a time when politics has to shift from a “war of movement” to a “war of position”. According to Carl Schmitt, a “greater space” denotes a cluster of states with a high degree of economic interdependence and with a central imperial power that secures order by preventing external military intervention. An important dimension of the global backlash against liberalism is the celebration by powers such as China, India or Russia of their civilisation and their conviction that global stability depends upon coexistence and mutual respect of civilisational identity.
