Former Union minister and Congress MP Manish Tewari’s latest book, A World Adrift, was launched at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi on January 12 amid a wide-ranging conversation on the collapse of the post-war global order, India’s strategic dilemmas, and the unsettling pace at which global politics is changing.
The book was released by former Union finance minister and veteran diplomat Yashwant Sinha at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the Kamla Devi Complex. The event drew diplomats, policymakers, academics, and political observers, and politicians like former chief minister of Kashmir and ex-Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Member of Parliament Mukul Wasnik, Vivek Tankha etc. underscoring the relevance of Tewari’s central argument: The world has entered an era of deep uncertainty where established assumptions no longer hold.
Calling the book “exceptionally brilliant,” Sinha said A World Adrift goes far beyond being a parliamentarian’s perspective on global affairs. “Parliament today does not even have the time to discuss serious issues. In many ways, the unimportant has become central,” he remarked. Sinha argued that it is “much more than parliamentarian's perspective offering a layered analysis of fast-moving global transformations.
Sinha described Tewari as a “rare breed of scholar-parliamentarian” and noted that the speed of global change itself validates the book’s central thesis. “The world is adrift because developments today are happening at a pace that outstrips the ability of institutions to respond,” he said.
Speaking about the book, Tewari said one of the biggest challenges in writing it was the velocity of change itself. “When I finished updating the manuscript around December 12, and between December 12 and January 12, the world had already moved so quickly that some hypotheses that may have been relevant a month earlier were already under question,” he said.
At the heart of the book, Tewari said, is the struggle of nations, particularly India, to preserve strategic autonomy in a world marked by disorder. “For any government, for anyone at the helm of affairs, the task is to preserve and protect whatever strategic space remains,” he said.
Tewari argued that the post-Second World War global order has effectively collapsed, leaving behind an “orderless world” where transitions are bound to be messy and unstable. He pointed to the “relentless rise of China,” which he said has now acquired a more assertive and potentially coercive character.
“For India to preserve its strategic autonomy, it must remain internally cohesive,” Tewari said, making a strong case for pluralism. “Pluralism is no longer a luxury that can be taken for granted. It is the biggest antidote to external challenges.”
He warned that future conflicts cannot be approached with the “mindsets and weapons of the past,” arguing that power vacuums are opening up across regions, with no clarity on who will ultimately fill them. “There is a flux, a vacuum, and I don’t think anyone really has an answer to how it will be filled,” he said.
Reflecting on his work in America overlapping with the first Trump presidency, Tewari said a recurring sentiment he encountered in conversations in Washington was that the United States was “exhausted.” “If the US withdraws as the external balancer of global power, a role it has played since 1945, there will be a collapse in equilibrium,” he said.
While he did not initially foresee a complete American withdrawal, Tewari argued that a conscious choice has now been made by the US to not only retreat but to behave in an increasingly unilateral manner. “This is just the beginning,” he warned, adding that Europe’s response to emerging crises, particularly around Greenland, would determine whether the continent can retain strategic relevance.
On India’s neighbourhood, Tewari posed a sharp question: “We talk about a ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, but do we have a neighbour that follows an ‘India First’ policy?”
Addressing concerns about Bangladesh, he rejected the notion that India has “lost” the country. “We invested blood and treasure in the creation of Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi redrew the political map of South Asia,” he said, adding that while relations may be strained, nothing permanent prevents a return to normalcy.
He also flagged political churn in Sri Lanka (2022), Bangladesh (2023), and Nepal (2025), suggesting that social media-driven mobilisation, manufactured narratives, and the “weaponisation of grievances” pose new strategic challenges even though they may be organic. “The government’s footprint on the ground has often been light, not heavy, therefore these disruptions continue,” he said.
