thought he separates a European and U.S. civilisation and therefore a separate
world order for each. Acharya competently undermines this vision of two
different orders, rather denoting them as ‘overlapping phases’ (p. 27) of the
current world order. The continuation of colonial rule in the form of U.S.
imperialism elucidates this overlap, where such imperialism was permitted
through the establishment of the UN trusteeship system, where at the same
time colonialism was effectively ignored. Institutions such as the trusteeship that
avoid racial terminology within their foundational documents may well include
race in their clauses these days (United Nations, 2020) but this approach is so
evidently colourblind in a postcolonial and racial framework. While ostensibly
producing an image of racial equality, such institutions do not care to pay
attention to the process of ignoring existing structures of racism or the role of
race in the founding of world order. By exposing this issue of absence in the study
of world order, Acharya successfully brings race to the forefront and confronts
the credibility of traditional race-neutral narratives.
What makes Acharya’s work well-balanced is an awareness of the
obstacles that hinder the increase in the study of race and racism in IR. For
instance, Acharya cautions against treating the problem of race as something
transient that depends on the political and academic climate, as well as events
that play out. Here, Black Lives Matter (BLM) is used as a fitting example where
certain critics accuse the responses to BLM as accruing very little (Tao, 2020).
Posting a black square on social media will not overturn systemic racist
structures, and this is what Acharya seemingly alludes to when he discusses
transience. Even so, Acharya is more ambitious in his aims and is aware these
challenges must be confronted first. After overriding the phenomenon of
presentism in IR that obfuscates the significance of race, a key step in achieving
global change is made. Acharya offers a transformative and critical commitment,
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