West’s ‘rules-based’ lie is exposed: Why Bharat stands to gain from Trumpian disruption

For decades, the Western world sold a lie — and a convenient one — about the existence of a “rules-based international order”. It was presented as unbiased, principled and universal: an enlightened, democratic alternative to raw power politics. In reality, it was more of a club, if not a cartel, whose rules were written by the powerful few, enforced selectively, and ignored whenever inconvenient. And like all successful cartels, it endured not because it was fair, but because everyone pretended it was.

That pretence is now collapsing, amidst the disruptions caused by US President Donald Trump.

What makes this moment remarkable is not that the illusion is fading away, but where the reckoning is coming from. The challenge to the Western order is no longer led by rival ideologies or external power centres. Instead, it is emerging from within the West itself.

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Recent remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos illustrate this shift. Carney described the US-led order as being “in the midst of a rupture” and urged so-called middle powers to unite against coercion by aggressive superpowers.

The irony is striking. The very order Carney now questions is one from which Canada has benefited immensely. Until a year ago, Ottawa was among the most zealous enforcers of this system. It moralised sanctimoniously, sanctioned recklessly, and certified other nations’ democracies with missionary zeal. It thrived in an arrangement where virtue signalling carried no cost and alignment with American power guaranteed insulation from consequences. It enjoyed power without responsibility. For nearly eight decades, the broader Western world saw the system operate almost flawlessly in its favour.

With Trump in the White House, that insulation has now vanished, and the West’s internal contradictions are no longer discreetly managed. Suddenly, Canada speaks of “coercion”. Europe worries about instability. And the language of moral certainty is replaced by the language of vulnerability. The same order that was defended until yesterday is now quietly described as a “lie”, as Carney did in Davos.

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Carney’s invocation of Czech leader Václav Havel is equally revealing. In his 1978 essay ‘The Power of the Powerless’, Havel argues that systems of domination persist not because people believe in them, but because they behave as if they do. The greengrocer, as per Havel, displays the slogan “Workers of the world, unite” not out of conviction, but out of fear and convenience. Everyone knows the slogan is hollow, yet no one dares to remove it. That collective performance itself becomes power.

The Western global order functioned in precisely the same manner — convenience of holding on to pre-eminence, greed of retaining a big-power aura, and anxiety about losing out to the non-Western world. Everyone knew the rules were selectively, often dubiously, applied. Iraq was invaded by inventing a lie. Libya was destroyed in the name of democracy and human rights. Yugoslavia was bombed without UN approval. Coups were endorsed, elections overturned, and dictators embraced — so long as Western interests were served. All the Western powers had to do was keep the slogans of “Democracy”, “Human Rights” and “International Law” displayed in bold letters.

This very week, one saw another display of the hollowness of the rules-based order when Trump publicly released a private message from French President Emmanuel Macron proposing a transactional bargain: European alignment with the United States on Iran in exchange for American backing on Ukraine. The disclosure once again stripped away the high-sounding rhetoric about international rules and universal norms. It confirmed what much of the Global South had long witnessed — there was one rulebook for the West and another for everyone else.

There is no denying that Trump, over the past year, has been a major disappointment, even among those who refused to see him through a Left-‘liberal’ lens, thanks to his tendency to combine “madman diplomacy” with extreme ego-centric policymaking and his family’s dubious financial interests. But he deserves to be given credit for exposing Western liberal doublespeak. Perhaps Trump could do this, unlike his more competent predecessors, because he has refused to treat European approval as a moral necessity for American policymaking.

For decades, American elites behaved as though Europe functioned as a kind of Vatican, its accent conferring legitimacy on American power. Europe enjoyed this arrangement immensely. It allowed it to posture as a moral authority while outsourcing hard power to Washington.

Trump shattered this consensus.

This is why Trump terrifies Europe — not because he is reckless, which he no doubt is, but because he exposes the lie on which Europe’s power and prosperity are based. Europe enjoyed a unique historical condition: power without responsibility. It lectured the Global South while sheltering beneath the American protective umbrella. It sanctioned, interfered and provoked but never paid the bill. Trump is finally asking Europe for accountability.

The European (Canada included) party is thus over. And the hangover has hit hard. Europe now knows it has to manage Russia — a country that has been a victim of European humiliation, arrogance and virtue signalling — knowing full well that America would always intervene if matters escalated. Cooperation was possible, but arrogance was chosen.

The table has turned for Europe, and this explains the new sense of urgency in Western capitals. The rhetoric of “middle powers” resisting coercion reflects not moral awakening, but strategic anxiety. Adding to Europe’s woes is Greenland, which represents a clear and present danger. Trump’s words may not be taken literally, but they do carry a directional message. He may not pursue the Greenland mission exactly as promised, but he will surely make a move sooner rather than later. And once Greenland is gone, the fate of Ukraine and Taiwan may not be far behind.

Yet Europe cannot be dismissed outright. Historically, it has shown remarkable adaptability. In 1945, it recognised American primacy almost instantly and subordinated its great-power ambitions without hesitation. If abandoned by a Trumpian America, Europe would seek accommodation elsewhere — with Moscow, Beijing and increasingly New Delhi. This is why talk of a “mother of all trade deals” with Bharat has suddenly gained urgency.

This is where Trump’s disruption becomes unexpectedly beneficial for the non-Western world. For Bharat, Trump has been a disruptive force and a disappointment, particularly as he imposed high tariffs on Delhi. But history teaches that setbacks often precede breakthroughs, especially for an entrepreneurial nation like Bharat. One may recall how Bharat’s 1991 economic crisis, painful as it was, catalysed reforms that transformed the country into a major economic power. Bharatiyas, who are innately entrepreneurial and adaptive, often awaken fully only in moments of crisis.

The current tariff shock could serve a similar purpose. It may force Bharat to become more competitive and less complacent. In the long run, such pressure can strengthen rather than weaken. From this perspective, Trump’s challenge may prove to be a disguised opportunity.

At a broader level, the American world order might have persisted longer had Trump not unsettled it. For a rising power like Bharat, this period is both perilous and promising. No emerging power ascends without enduring turbulence. The current “rapturous” moment tests strategic maturity, political will and institutional resilience. Bharat’s present leadership appears well placed to navigate this transition.

If managed with clarity and confidence, Bharat could emerge as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Trumpian disruption — much as the United States itself benefited from the systemic upheavals of the 1930s and ’40s. The challenge is formidable, but the rewards could be transformative. Either way, Trump will be remembered: first for exposing the lie of the Western world order, and then for creating a moment of opportunity for countries like Bharat to step beyond it.

As the lie fades and the performance ends, Trump has become a catalyst for a new world order. He may have intended to protect American hegemony, but his acts of omission and commission may instead have facilitated the rise of a new global arrangement. Whether this results in a multipolar world led by Bharat or another hegemonic order led by China, only time will tell.

(Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)