Emerging world order will be multipolar, unstable: EAM

New Delhi: The new world order taking shape will be more multipolar and transactional, with more centres of autonomous decision-making, thereby making it more unstable and setting the stage for sharper competition, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. This new order is taking shape at a time when the world is navigating “very stormy seas” because of multiple conflicts, including those in Ukraine and West Asia, the grim situation in parts of Africa, and disruptions and volatility in food and fuel supplies, Jaishankar said.“The general acceptance is that the new order would be more multipolar, that there’d be many more centres of autonomous decision-making. Countries overall would be much more national in their choices and in their decisions,” he said. “The alliances will be less cohesive because of national interests and more transactional, because they feed into each other — less cohesive, more transactional; more transactional, less cohesive.”

The new world order will also be one of “more variables”, and “much more complex [and] less predictable” because there are more players, who are also more self-centered. “That will be the culture or the ethos of the era that we are moving into. I don’t want you to get a sort of picture of an anarchy, but definitely sharper competition, more national assertions, and in that sense inherently more unstable,” Jaishankar. Jaishankar acknowledged that the world is in a mess and charting “very stormy seas”, with global headwinds having consequences for India. The changes underway have been exacerbated by the wars in Ukraine and West Asia, the grim situation in Sudan and Central Africa, the volatility of food and fuel prices, and the continuing fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Hans India