20/09/2024 06:00
We hear more and more that the unipolar world order is being replaced by a multipolar world order. But what does or could this mean for us?
500 years ago, with the great discoveries by the Western powers, which turned into colonialism, a unipolar world order dominated by the West emerged globally. The West decided the rules of the game, which applied to everyone, but only the West had the right of exception. This unipolar world order has been established by the West mainly by force and arms, which is very costly, because military bases and armed forces have to be maintained all over the world.
Colonised countries had to wait until the 19th and 20th centuries to gain their independence and semi-autonomy over their own destiny. Almost immediately afterwards, there was a signal that the previous world order established by the West had to be changed.
As early as 1955, the former colonial countries met in Bandung to discuss this. A group of 'non-aligned' countries, now referred to as the 'Global South', was created.
The rise of certain Asian countries has led to the creation of new international organisations which, as yet, do not include the countries of the Western world. This is the case of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which was set up in 2001 by China, Russia and four Central Asian countries, but has since been joined by several other countries. Or the BRICS, which was set up in 2009 and has grown from four countries - China, India, Russia and Brazil - to 10, with more countries in the pipeline. Equally important is the ever-expanding Organisation of Turkic States. But we could also mention China's Belt and Road Initiative, which now includes more than 150 countries.
What these new international organisations have in common is that they want to reform the world order established by the West, and their most important message is that they reject hegemonic domination and focus on peaceful coexistence, mutual respect and cooperation based on mutual benefit. In doing so, they want to create a multipolar world order in which no one civilisation imposes its own ideas on other countries with different cultures, but in which, since each pole belongs to a different civilisation, civilisations rebel against the oppression of Western civilisation to create a peaceful, inter-civilisational world of harmony. Whether this is feasible or not remains to be seen, but it is certainly noteworthy that there is growing interest in the above-mentioned international organisations and that more and more people are announcing their intention to join them.
Let's hope that the Western world will sooner or later outgrow its imperial mindset, accept the end of the unipolar world order and, instead of opposing it, become a cooperative partner in the development of the new world order, so that it can position itself properly in the new Eurasia era.