India, Oct. 29 -- The international system is undergoing a profound transformation. The certainties of the post-World War II order - anchored in the UN, Bretton Woods institutions, and a rules-based multilateral framework - are buckling under pressure. What appears to be emerging in its place is a more transactional and interest-driven global order, shaped by spheres of influence and great power bargains reminiscent of the 19th century's Congress of Berlin and the Cold War doctrines of George Kennan and Henry Kissinger's realpolitik.

The present Trump administration seems to be shaping a strategy where Washington seeks to placate its main adversaries by striking agreements on the geographical contours of each axis of power, in order to s...