1. The Shifting Global Power Balance Equations and the Emerging Real 'New World Order'
- Author:
- Alex Igho Ovie-D'Leone
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
- Institution:
- Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
- Abstract:
- Expansion in globalization arising from increased interconnectivity and interdependence across the world is causing a shift both in the focus of what now could determine the principal international power variables and the criteria for power balancing calculus. One direct challenge to the status quo is the emergence on one hand of new state actors which are becoming more assertive, as well as some other new key non-state actors now matching states seemingly one-on-one on the world stage in many spheres of international political concourse. Consequently, there is a visible or perceptible shift from the current USled unipolar 'New World Order' to a new form of multi-faceted power balancing structure that abstracts sharply from the traditional patterns of international power balancing calculus. The predominant position of the US in a post-Cold-War order is being threatened on several fronts. Consequently, unipolarity appears to be obviously on its decline. However, the US has started to respond in kind to such new threats to its continued international hegemony. It is a unilateral response that seeks to perpetrate unipolarity. But how long can it hold on to its grip and status as a global hyper power balancer? The challenges presented by such sundry scenarios including also other new related developments are exhaustively tackled here in this article.