This book examines the role of the cultural factor, and patterns of its interaction with social, economic and political developments, in fostering identity-based new populisms and various forms of political authoritarianism across the globe.

Comparing authoritarianism in the Asian and Western context, this book attempts to shed light on the different ways in which new political actors make use of cultural traditions or constructs in order to justify their claims to power and challenge the culture of modernity as understood in the Western world. Lastly, the book focuses on the consequence of these new challenges for multilateral cooperation at regional and global levels, asking the question: is the world going towards fragmentation and anarchy or a pluralist and innovative form of multilateral cooperation?

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of populism and authoritarianism studies, democracy, global governance and more broadly to international relations.

"This stimulating collection of essays probes the role of culture in the contests over multiple modernities and its discontents. In transcending the conventional binary of East and West, the book develops novel perspectives on some of the most salient issues in contemporary world politics." - Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University, USA.

"This book uses the conceptual framework of multiple modernities to probe the various contestions about global and regional orders. It engages in a dialogue among European, Latin American, and Asian scholars on some of the most pressing questions of our times." - Thomas Risse, Free University of Berlin, Germany.

Thomas Meyer is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany, and Editor-in-Chief of the monthly political magazine, Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte.

José Luís de Sales Marques is President of the Institute of European Studies of Macau (IEEM), Macau.

Mario Telò is the Jean Monnet Chair of International Relations at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Rome’s LUISS, and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Brussels.