Law of Fish and the World Order

The ‘Law of Fish’ (Matsya Nyaya) is an ancient Indian philosophical and political theory that generally means, ‘big fish eat small fish’. In a human context, it signifies an order where the strong exploit the weak and there is no protection for the weak and vulnerable.

If we go explore history, we see that the world, to a great extent, has always been like that. Powerful individuals, tribes and later kingdoms and empires pursued the said concept, grabbed the lands of less powerful, took absolute control of their territories, people, resources and put them under complete subjugation for centuries.

It is perceived that this kind of scenario somewhat improved, when nation-states of various sizes and powers emerged, especially in Europe.

Empires, of course, were there in full force, controlling the lives of millions across many territories and countries, representing different ethnicities, languages and religions. In the course of time, among others, two important factors like the rise of nationalism and scientific inventions made profound impacts on the then world order.

These developments ushered in the era of colonialism and human slavery. European nations like Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium were important beneficiaries of the age of colonialism and human slavery.

Regions outside Europe across different continents were tuned into colonies of the countries mentioned earlier. New continents and territories were discovered and were turned into permanently settled countries by the conquering European powers.

But the most shameful and inhuman thing that occurred in human history is forcefully enslaving of the black Africans and sending them to distant lands, especially the USA, and Latin American colonies to make those individuals work as slaves – such people were denied any kind of rights. Colonialism and slavery contributed to wealth creation and prosperity of certain West European countries and the United States of America.

This system based on the concept of “might is right” or, in other words, “Law of the Fish”, determined the world order for the next few centuries.

Developments in the two centuries preceding the current one ushered in great changes in the world order in phases. On 18 December 1865, the 13th Amendment was enacted and added to the Constitution of the United States of America. Said amendment officially abolished slavery, and freed many enslaved people. Two great wars (World War I and II) also brought in profound changes in the then world order.

In particular, World War II brought in such changes that were never thought of even 10-20 years before. Two great world powers, the USA and the Soviet Union, emerged as the world’s two superpowers. Countries around the world fell into the power and influence of either one.

East European countries fell under the influence of the Soviet Union and the remaining countries had to toe the line of the USA. In spite of the USA being on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, due to its size and economic muscle acquired and increased manifold during World War II, it became the ultimate leader and arbitrator for the West European countries, popularly termed as the “free world”.

Two military alliances, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and WARSAW Pact under the absolute leadership of the USA and the Soviet Union respectively were established and they, for only a few years, divided the whole world through their spheres of influence.

Subsequently, the world order entered into a new phase termed as the Bi-polar world with the characteristic of a silent animosity called the ‘Cold War’. The interesting thing to note here is that the big or superpowers (then only two) determined the nature and character of the new world order. It means two big fishes decided everything. 

This world order continued till the dismemberment of the Soviet Union (USSR) and subsequently, the logical demise of the WARSAW pact. This happened in 1991.

However, since the last quarter of the 20th century, a number of countries has undergone spectacular economic growth and entered into the centre stage of the global economy and subsequently became global powerhouses of development and influence.

In 1978, the Chinese economy was opened and subsequently, it transformed a closed, planned system into a global manufacturing giant through market-oriented reforms, foreign investment attraction, and trade liberalisation.

This “Reform and Opening Up” policy resulted in decades of high-speed growth, and now, it is the second largest economy in the world only after the USA.

In all likelihood, within a few years, China is going to overtake the USA and become the largest economy. Another large country by population and size, India, started liberalising its economy in the early 1990s, shifting it from a socialist, protectionist model towards a market-driven economy. This, after a number of years, transformed India into a major global economic player.

In 2025, India’s economy was ranked as the fourth or fifth largest globally. By now, Brazil has also become a recognisable economic power. In 2025, Brazil ranks as the world’s 11th largest economy with a population of about 213.4 million.

These newly emerged large economies formed an economic group of their own known as ‘BRICS’ (originally BRIC) consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.

At present, it is an intergovernmental forum for economic and political cooperation, aiming to counter Western, particularly American, influence in global institutions and promote a multipolar world. 

Now, we can observe that in the last 50 years or so, the world has transformed from a Bi-polar to a Unipolar and then to a multi-polar world.

The dominance and hegemony of one or two powers or countries are becoming ineffective as other emerging countries with large populations; and economic and military might are exerting their powers and influences in the global affairs. This has resulted in intense rivalry among them, particularly for global markets and resources.

However, the interesting thing that needs to be noted here is that the smaller countries endowed with natural resources and important or sensitive geo-political geographical locations have become more vulnerable to global politics.

Presently, they need to toe the line of more than one or two countries which, in most cases, is quite difficult for obvious reasons. Like prehistoric days, the “Law of Fish” is still in full force around the world even though the world has progressed significantly, particularly in the fields of science and technology.

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The writer is a former Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka