The situation on the world stage is changing rapidly.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the establishment of a multipolar system in international relations. The “end of history,” declared by American philosopher Francis Fukuyama at the end of the 20th century, which became a Western sensation, has not materialized.
GORUS asked experts in the field of international relations about their assessment of the current developments on the world stage.
Back in 1992, against the backdrop of the collapse of the USSR and the strengthening of U.S. influence on the global stage, American philosopher Francis Fukuyama published the best-selling book “The End of History and the Last Man.” He claimed that, thanks to the global spread of Western-style liberal democracy, the socio-cultural evolution of humanity had come to an end. According to Fukuyama, this should have meant the end of ideologies, wars, philosophy, and art. Western experts wrote that the “end of history” concept became a “canonical text” for the U.S. leadership and an ideological basis for promoting American-style democracy along with the “free market” worldwide.
“Many analysts believe that the term ‘globalization,’ in relation to these events, is a euphemism hiding Westernization and even Americanization of the entire world,” shared Vladimir Vasiliev, the chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a doctor of economic sciences, in a conversation with GORUS.
By the way, wars did not come to an end. The United States not only imposed its political views and economic model on other countries but also attacked sovereign states without considering anyone’s opinion—particularly Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
In 2007, in his “Munich speech,” Vladimir Putin stated that a unipolar world is a “world of one master, one sovereign.” At the same time, the President of Russia linked the emergence of many global problems to attempts to force the world into “unipolarity.”
“I believe that for the modern world, a unipolar model is not only unacceptable but generally impossible,” emphasized Putin at that time.
And in December of the last year, speaking at the “Russia is Calling!” investment forum, he acknowledged the fact: “A multipolar model is replacing the former model of globalization.”
“I completely agree. One of the pieces of evidence for this thesis is the desire of various countries worldwide to join BRICS. On its basis and on the basis of other new alliances, alternative international banking and insurance structures may emerge. Russia, actively participating in new integration processes, becomes one of the locomotives on the world stage,” said Professor at MGIMO, Doctor of Economic Sciences Yulia Zvorykina in a comment to GORUS.
The previous model of globalization is being replaced by a multipolar model
Replacing the former model of globalization is a multipolar model. According to experts, when talking about a departure from globalization, it is important to define the terms. From a technical point of view, globalization is only accelerating, which cannot be said about the political aspect.
“Globalization is continuing. But it is not the globalization that was written about in recent textbooks on international relations. That globalization implied the hegemony of the West and the impoverishment of the Global South. While the beneficiaries of the new globalization that has been happening in the last 10-15 years are China, Brazil, and other non-Western countries. The rules of the game are changing,” said Vladimir Batiuk, the head of the Center for Military and Political Studies at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In his opinion, BRICS is evolving and strengthening its position on the world stage. China, India, Russia, Brazil are changing their positions in the international division of labor and increasing the share of high-tech industries in the economy. At the same time, “non-Western” countries firmly refuse to accept the ideological agenda that the United States and Europe are still trying to impose on the world—especially concerning the “green transition” and “minority rights.” On the contrary, they openly defend their traditional values.
“Globalization is turning from an end in itself into a tool. The development of global communications and technologies successfully combines with international political multipolarity,” noted Vladimir Batiuk.
Experts point out that the failure of several global experiments that took place in the 1990s and 2000s is already evident, and now time is literally turning back.
“We are returning to the historical moment preceding the attempts to create a unipolar world, in the 1980s, and choosing new paths of development. International unification, homogeneity, U.S. dominance are being reset. The Anglo-Saxon version of globalization is fading away,” shared Vladimir Vasiliev with GORUS.
In his words, now, in the task of forming an alternative world order, new variables have emerged—such as the rise of China and India, the increasing global role of the Asia-Pacific region.
“And it’s not necessary to say that only the ‘non-Western’ world has abandoned playing by the common rules. The United States, hiding behind speeches about protecting democracy and Western values, is actually implementing a program of economic nationalism in the form of sanctions against unwanted countries. By the way, China, for example, does nothing like this, although it can,” emphasized Vasiliev.
He also noted that in the context of changing global situations, humanity faces new challenges and dangers. Military and ideological rivalries intensify, global power centers have powerful armies and nuclear weapons.
As a result of the implementation of the globalist project according to Western patterns, many nations are at risk of losing their identity, and they now react very nervously to any restrictions on their values and views on life. Inaccurate actions in this direction are fraught with collisions that can lead to significant casualties.
In the result of implementing the globalist project according to Western patterns, many nations are at risk of losing their identity, and they now react very nervously to any restrictions on their values and views on life. Inaccurate actions in this direction are fraught with collisions that can lead to significant casualties.
“The world is entering a fundamentally new stage of development. If, starting from the 1990s, we saw an attempt to build a vertical model, where the United States imposed its will on everyone, now we observe interaction on a horizontal plane,” said Andrey Koshkin, Head of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at the G.V. Plekhanov Russian Economic University, Doctor of Political Sciences, in a conversation with “GoR.”
In his opinion, one of the reasons for the changes happening today is that the United States felt resource hunger and stopped “pulling” its global projects. Vulgar globalization according to the Western scheme turned out to be unviable without massive support.
“In Washington and Brussels, they talk a lot of beautiful words about democracy and a free market, which they want to bring to the Global South. But in reality, everything is much simpler. To the states of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, they presented a scheme in a beautiful package to pump out valuable resources from them for free or almost for free—from minerals to cheap labor—in order to maintain a high standard of living in the countries of the so-called ‘golden billion.’ Hence the claims against Russia, the sanctions imposed against us, and the media campaigns of demonization. Lately, we have been strongly impeding the implementation of this scheme,” noted Koshkin.
The expert believes that political multipolarity does not hinder the development of digital technologies, the Internet, and artificial intelligence at the global level.
Rejecting the idea of unipolarity is excellent because it allows preserving genuine diversity in the world, not its shallow imitation, in which millions of people in Western countries are forced to live today.
Just recently, Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury wrote about the “unipolar” end of history without art, deep emotions, and contradictions as something unbearably dreadful. And today, some fans of globalization according to Western patterns try to convince us that this is the real wonderful new world…
Svyatoslav Knyazev