Race and racism were powerful forces behind the creation of the modern international order. They also continue to shape international relations today. Drawing on his 2022 articles in International Affairs of UK and Foreign Affairs of US (both marking their centenary in that same year), Amitav Acharya considers the long-term legacy of racist ideas and categories developed by European and white American societies. While imperialism and slavery can be found in all civilizations, the blending of scientific racism, colonialism, and slavery is the distinct by-product of the “rise of the West”. This unholy potion contributed to racist norms for organizing the contemporary international order, including the initial blueprint of international institutions we have today. On the opposite side, postcolonial nations in their gatherings such as the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung challenged white privilege to advance decolonization, human rights, economic development and the quest for a more just and inclusive world order. Despite some progress, overcoming racism and racial injustice is far from realized. To this date, there is no global norm of racial equality comparable to “sovereign equality” and non-intervention. Racial divides shape the international response to the “rise of the Rest”, and to global challenges such as terrorism, refugee flows, pandemics, and the Russia-Ukraine war. Addressing racial inequality and injustice, along with other social cleavages, holds the key to the “power within” nations, which Acharya advances as a more critical determinant of the position and influence of nations, hence to the future of world order, than conventional notions of hard or soft power.