-
26.9.2017
For a long time Central Asia has been part of Russian empire and only in the 1990s did this region fully gain independence. Immediately, it faced a choice: either these states could continue to follow Russian-led path, or they could set off for the search of their own place in the world. Current foreign policy of this region can be best described as multi-polar: Central Asian countries do their best to benefit from all involved parties: China, Russia, USA, the European ...
-
23.9.2017
The world system theory developed by Wallerstein (1974, 1979, 1997, and 2004) provides a broad theoretical perspective to understand the historical evolutions and changes involved in the rise of the modern capitalist world system. This capitalist world system expanded over a long historical spectrum and brought different parts of the world into its division of labor, leading to a perpetual condition of economic core-peripheral relations. Under this single division of ...
-
19.9.2017
The Rohingya crisis has (finally) stirred international public opinion and mainstream media interest, putting increasing pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi to respond, but what is aberrant and surprising is her silence, a silence full of meaning coming from the recipient of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of thought and the Nobel Peace Prize! During her house arrest and her ban from accessing the Burmese political sphere, the West was her lifeline thanks to its support over the ...
-
12.9.2017
The Korean War was never over. Instead, an armistice was signed with each protagonist remaining on his guard. From America’s point of view, the North Korean question remains a thorn in their flank since the 1950’s. It is a reminder of the Cold War era. During the Korean War, the US troops had significant losses, which pushed General MacArthur to suggest the idea of launching an atomic bomb in North Korea, but his suggestion was dismissed. From the North Korean point of ...
-
30.8.2017
One conventional criticism of the role and future of the BRICS grouping is internal tensions and conflicts between its members. We may just have witnessed the opposite effect. The firm deadline of the next summit in Xiamen from 3–5 September exerted an external discipline on China and India to resolve a ten-week military standoff at the tri-junction with Bhutan. The narrow Doklam Plateau is a 90km strip at an altitude of over 4,000 metres that China lays claim to as ...
-
26.8.2017
The BRICS have long defied the expectations from its detractors that it is an artificial and unsustainable construct. Moving beyond the original identification of specific countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) deemed to possess a similar set of developmental characteristics by Goldman Sachs, BRICS took on an institutional format. With annual summits since 2009 BRICS has taken on a sustained personality. In terms of membership the profile of BRICS has been extended ...
-
23.8.2017
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation represents a rare example of two rising powers establishing their own organisation. It fulfils several roles: an alternative to West-led institutions, a driver of regional integration, and an unaffiliated platform for Russian-Chinese negotiations. Both countries perceive Central Asia important for themselves. For China, it’s a land of opportunities: natural resources (above all – gas) and logistics (infamous project of ...
-
16.8.2017
The G20, the club of the supposedly 19 most important countries plus the European Union, is in deep trouble. The gnawing question on legitimacy has been joined by fundamental doubts whether the elitist format at the apex of the global system can, indeed, deliver in face of rising nationalism and authoritarian egotism. The G20 sees itself not as concert of powers but rather as guardian of the global common good, determined to promote the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable ...
-
12.8.2017
The Doklam standoff has monopolized the news over the last weeks. It is not every day that the world observes two Asian global powers, India and China for instance, wrestling over a territory. So what is really behind this conflict? The Protagonists: Modi, Xi… and Trump. Since Modi took office in 2014, he has developed close relations with both Japan and the US, rejecting OBOR and China (its historical ‘problematic’ neighbor) fiercely. Knowing that the couple Japan-China ...
-
19.7.2017
The 12th G20 summit meeting convened in Hamburg on the July 7-8th 2017 has raised a pertinent uneasily answered question: Will this salient event pave the way for the G20 to play a leading global role in creating a New Globalized Just Order? The predicament of G20 centres on going beyond the fulfilment of its prime mission of acting as “a kind of steering committee of global governance”. What gives the G20 such a distinct power leverage is that it represents two – ...
