The Bitter and the Sweet

The New Silk Road is filled with contradictions that diminish its idealistic allure because they undercut the core values its proponents claim to represent, particularly universalism, justice, and knowledge. If leaders around the world—and not merely in China—hope to rescue that allure, they will have to join in fashioning more humane political relations with the same energy they devote to pursuing breakthroughs in technology, commerce, and warfare. Proponents of globalization must confront feelings of exclusion among communities that the New Silk Road bypasses. They need to reduce the inherent inequalities that pervade exchanges between Western and non-Western civilizations. In addition, they have to counter the nationalistic and parochial tendencies that dominate the study of international politics. China and the United States can share a leading role in reforming global governance, but this will require both superpowers to cooperate more closely with a growing number of rising Muslim nations.