A tacit meeting of the minds among world leaders as well as conservative and far-right politicians and activists is emerging on the values that are likely to shape a 21st century new world order. Rejecting universal concepts of human, minority and other rights, the values are grounded in the rise of civilisationalism and the civilisational state that places its legitimacy in a distinct civilisation rather than the nation state’s concept of territorial integrity, language and citizenry.

This values system reflects an unspoken consensus among men like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Victor Orban, Mohammed bin Salman, Narendra Modi and Donald Trump. It constitutes the greatest threat to liberal values such as human and minority rights and reduces the Great Game for influence, if not dominance in Eurasia, to a power struggle over spheres of influence and the sharing of the pie.