TRENDS OF MULTIPOLARITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR REGIONAL AND GLOBAL PEACE
Keywords:
TRENDS, MULTIPOLARITY, GLOBAL PEACEAbstract
The current debates on the global trends of multipolar system have been dominated
by discussions on what appears to be a shift of economic power from the West to
the East. Most significant in the current trend is the rise of China and India, the
two large economies with a combined population of 2.3 billion and unprecedented
GDP growth averaged 9.1% and 6.1% respectively for over a decade. It is said if
China maintains this growth rate, it will surpass USA in overall economic output
in about two decades. The USA is still the mightiest in global military power
and force projection capabilities and will continue to play a prominent part in
shaping the world geopolitical scenario but what is also seen at present is its
inability to influence the global political landscape decisively like in the past.
New players in the international scene, the countries which in the past were in the
periphery of global politics and considered as mere spectators, are now trying to
make themselves noticeable through economic and security cooperation.
The UN continues to be grappling with the challenges of management of
international conflicts, its internal administrative and security reforms and
the search for the ways to foster coordination with regional bodies which are
increasingly becoming more autonomous. This paper has recommended for a
proper assessment on how to deal with the new asymmetrical threats or threats
without boundaries as the UN calls them which are now emerging and appear to threaten global peace and security, to find a lasting solution on the current
stalemate of the Security Council reforms and to closely monitor and remain
seized on the growing rival race of trade route in the Indian Ocean and also
the South China Sea which, if not closely watched, could become Asia’s major
military flashpoint. The survival of the UN depends very much on how it will
trade in a fine line so as to become neither irrelevant to the security imperatives
of the big powers nor become their mere rubberstamp.
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