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Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders
We can note the growing interest in researching so-called encounters in England and other countries of the Global West. In the academic milieu, such studies appear frequently and en masse. Parallelly, there is large-scale interest in the so-called rethinking history studies, created to expand horizons and refute and modify the postulates that have grown over the centuries. In addition, research is actively developing within the methodologies of the Global History School, which is trying to extend the “Eurocentric” and “West-centric” understanding of the world. Ayse Zarakol’s Before the West belongs to this tradition of academic research. The study is not entirely IR, Political Science, or even the history of Diplomacy. This is precisely rethinking history in IR and the history of Diplomacy of the ‘Great Khan’s Empires and Eurasian States. Partially, Zarakol’s research continues the tradition of scientists such as Iver Neumann, René Grousset, Peter Jackson, Jack Weatherford, and Thomas T. Allsen. The most significant interest in Eurasian studies has been marked in Russian intellectual thought. The book calls for reconsidering everything studied, discovered, and established in IR and the history of Diplomacy. Before the West is a reconstructed history of modern understanding and analysis of the mentioned scientific disciplines; in this regard, the book cannot but arouse interest. Without a doubt, Zarakol's research is of the highest caliber and requires extensive interdisciplinary analysis. The history of political teachings demonstrates that, on occasion, such a profound reinterpretation of the accepted traditions of modernity, excessive ideologization of history, and exaltation of the past can have regrettable repercussions. Similar events occurred with Soviet communism, radical Islamist ideologies, and National-Socialism in Germany. To destroy everything to the ground, and for what - is Lenin’s famous thesis. Later it was embedded in the anthem of the Communist International: “Until the foundation, and then: We can do our own, we will build a new world”. If the Paper of Neumann and Wigen “The Steppe Tradition in International Relations” [2018], does not revise but explores the history, traditions and, in particular, the legacy of the Mongolian nomadic Empires on some societies, then Before the West a priori raises them above all other historical heritage. Zarakol writes that Pax Mongolica, or the contributions the Mongols made to the European historical trajectory (57).(incomplete sentence) Here the question arises, what did the Mongol nomadic Empires, feudal and family sultanates that existed in Asia, give to the modern world? Zarakol’s Hierarchies in World Politics [2017] was a brilliant example of the study of the problems of classical dichotomy in IR anarchy-hierarchy and was performed in the classical methodologies of this discipline. Than Before the West is an attempt at revolution and rebellion within the science of IR and the history of Diplomacy. As practice and modern political events show (Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and an irrational desire to fight the West), attempts to oppose something “great” to the West lead to a desire to destroy what you did not build. Throughout the book, the author admires Genghis Khan. At the same time, the author, claiming about the world order, which Genghis Khan allegedly “created”, does not say a word about the social system, economy, and culture that existed in his “ Empire”. It seems that the whole life of the State was reduced to endless wars, conquest,s and the celebration of victories. The larger the territory of the States, the more successful it is. This contradicts the modern understanding of the State as a tool or an instrument of human society.