At the Inaugural Dialogue of Diplomatist@30 held at NDIM on 21 January 2026, Dr. Jitender Bhandari—Alumnus, IIM Ahmedabad (FDP) and Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Social Sciences, Christ University, Delhi-NCR Campus—offered a sobering yet thought-provoking reflection on the state of the global order. Speaking to students, academics, and policy enthusiasts, Dr. Bhandari situated contemporary uncertainties within a longer arc of economic and political change, urging young professionals to confront complexity with clarity rather than fear.
“May You Live in Interesting Times”
Dr. Bhandari anchored his remarks around a phrase he has returned to repeatedly since 2020: “May you live in interesting times.” Often attributed to Chinese wisdom, the phrase, he said, now feels less like a proverb and more like a lived reality.
“I first used this phrase during the COVID-19 pandemic, thinking it was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he observed. “But unfortunately, since then, I don’t know how many times I have repeated it. In fact, the intensity keeps increasing.”
From the pandemic and prolonged school closures to the resurgence of wars—despite widespread beliefs that “the era of war is over”—Dr. Bhandari pointed out that the world is witnessing unprecedented overlapping crises. Citing estimates of over a hundred ongoing armed conflicts, he argued that peace can no longer be taken for granted.
Beyond the Four Ps of Marketing
Connecting directly with management students in the audience, Dr. Bhandari contrasted the familiar four Ps of marketing with what he described as a far more consequential framework: Planet, People, Peace, and Prosperity.
“Believe me, these four Ps are far more important than the ones you study in marketing,” he said. “If you really want to be successful managers, you must begin to focus on these as well.”
Climate change, he stressed, is no longer a distant policy concern but a lived reality affecting economies and societies alike. Added to this is the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence—an innovation whose implications remain deeply uncertain. “Nobody really knows what is going on,” he noted, raising concerns about employment, ethics, and long-term societal impact.
A World That No Longer Makes Sense
Reflecting on geopolitical volatility, Dr. Bhandari remarked that recent political developments—particularly in the United States—have further unsettled global predictability. “If someone claims they fully understand what is happening today,” he said candidly, “I would seriously doubt that.”
He drew a parallel with the 2008–09 global financial crisis, recalling how students then, facing bleak job prospects, asked when the crisis would end. His response at the time, quoting Winston Churchill, remains strikingly relevant today: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It is just the end of the beginning.”
According to Dr. Bhandari, the post–Cold War assumption of a stable, settled world—popularised by ideas such as Francis Fukuyama’s end of history—has clearly been upended. “We thought we had found the answers,” he said, “yet here we are, once again, struggling to make sense of the world.”
The Elephant and the Dragon in the Room
In one of the most evocative moments of his address, Dr. Bhandari described today’s global power dynamics by saying, “We don’t just have an elephant in the room—we have an elephant and a dragon.” The elephant, he explained, represents the United States; the dragon, China.
He pointed to the emergence of new mercantilism, highlighting China’s staggering USD 1.2 trillion trade surplus—not total trade, but surplus alone. At the same time, he noted the irony of the United States, historically the champion of free trade, adopting some of its most protectionist policies in nearly a century.
“China is becoming mercantilist, the U.S. is turning protectionist, and countries like India find themselves somewhere in between,” he observed.
Crisis as Catalyst
Despite the gravity of his assessment, Dr. Bhandari resisted pessimism. “Every crisis also brings opportunity,” he reminded the audience. He argued that current global disruptions are forcing countries—including India—to pursue long-pending economic reforms, new trade agreements, and more adaptive policy frameworks.
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