The world we live in today is a millennia-old galaxy. It bears within it the insignia of the multiple and diverse mutations which make up the history of humanity and international relations, a history characterized by the “class struggle”, to use the thesis of Karl Marx. Thus, just as “no one has received from nature the right to command others” said Diderot, the domination of the West over the rest of the world is not an irrevocable divine fact. This is exactly what the expansion of the sphere of influence of the BRICS Alliance (led by the Russian Federation) invites us to understand in the dynamics of the world scene. We have the impression that Francis Fukuyama’s diagram on “the end of History” seems to be schematized in the unwanted sense of those nostalgic for unipolarism and even to the great surprise of the West, which classified this book among the bestsellers, during decades of glory of Western manipulation. While Hobbes’s “Leviathan” evokes the survival instinct as a driving force in the history of societal crises, Samuel P. Huntington’s “The Clash of Civilizations” teaches us better about the historical foundations of East/West divides. And, as on planet Earth, we are obliged to cohabit despite everything, it is necessary to appreciate the ruptures and continuities, the innovations and the resistance of these divisions to understand the current trend in international relations.
This article aims to examine the tensions which are exacerbating and the East/West divide which is imposing itself around the two poles of power (Russia and the United States), around which international relations are organized (I), to precisely, to identify the foundations of the multipolarism of the world (II).
I. Tensions and the East/West divide around the two poles of power
Talking about the functioning of the world scene amounts to being interested in, understanding and interpreting the tensions which are exacerbated in relations between States (A) and the East/West divide around the balance of power in the dynamic international relations (B).
А. The exacerbation of tensions between Russia and the United States
The self-proclamation of the United States as the world’s policeman (since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War) has generated a linked set of humanitarian, food and security disasters across the world, thus reducing it to nothing. , efforts to pacify international relations. To be convinced of this, just read a page of the history of their military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now by proxy in Ukraine and Palestine. The list of countries destroyed by the United States and its NATO allies is so long that we leave it to readers to go through it. The Russian Federation of the BRICS Alliance, rich in its ancestral humanist values and respectful of the right of peoples to self-determination, has always constituted itself as a pole of protest against this American order, despite orchestrated destabilization attempts. By the collective West. Perestroika (April 1985–December 1991) and Glasnost (1986) under Mikhail Gorbachev illustrate this analytical approach well. Hence, the rivalries between the United States and Russia, which therefore raise the question of the balance of power on the world stage.
B. The East/West divide around the balance of power in the dynamics of international relations
The balance of power, in other words, between the United States of NATO and the Russian Federation of the BRICS Alliance, which decides what in the dynamics of the international scene. While they each constitute a nuclear power, the United States and Russia, whose direct confrontation in an open war is comparable to an apocalypse (end of the world), are waging war by proxy or through intermediary allies (Syria, Ukraine, etc.) since the beginning of the divisions. The emergence of new poles in the ranks of countries formerly classified in the Global South is changing the historical configuration of the world scene. Hence, the transitology towards Multipolarism which means that in the era we are entering, the West will no longer be the center of gravitation of the world, in other words, the place of receptacle of all the cultural and civilizational values of the world. The world is now multipolar and nothing will work as before. Because the new masters of the world are other than Westerners. Westerners who have only sowed fear and desolation in the rest of the world and whom they would call “democracy”, in the name of which no borders and barriers can prevent them from interfering in the internal affairs of States which do not part of Western geography. The Russian Federation of the BRICS Alliance carries the voice of the protesters of this unjust and dehumanizing order.
II. The foundations of the new multipolar world order
While the world is in perpetual change and as no one can prevent humanity from transiting, it is essential to take an interest in the factors of this mutation which, moreover, underpin the new multipolar world order. It is indeed about inequalities in the management of international affairs (A) and attempts to exploit and westernize international institutions (B).
A. Inequalities in the management of international affairs
As the title suggests, the management of international affairs seems tied to the moods of the United States since the creation of geostrategic macrocosms. Despite NATO’s subversive actions, the Eastern Bloc has never intended to lower its guard since the beginning of the balance of terror with the Western Bloc. Inequalities being the fundamental characteristics of the relationships that link the West to the rest of the world, Africa, Asia and Latin America have always paid and continue to pay the heavy price for the illogical attitudes of the collective West. except the new powers emerging from these corners of the world: South Africa for Africa, China for Asia and Brazil for Latin America. All from the BRICS Alliance, these new poles of power truly frighten the United States and its NATO allies. The political annals of the history of international relations teach us better that the people of Africa, Asia and Latin America have been forcibly dispossessed and continue to be dispossessed of their own resources by corporations. Western multinationals. The example of the Democratic Republic of Congo (which suffers from the curse of natural resources) better illustrates this thesis. Social balance and social justice on the world stage are wavering under the influence of Western pride. The cultural and civilizational values of people are relegated to primates for failure to comply with variable geometry democracy.
B.Westernization of international institutions
For decades of hostility and geostrategic positioning between the powers vying for leadership of global governance, those of the West have been part of the logic of manipulation of international institutions which, although designed and implemented to regulate and pacify international relations. It is in this perspective that the Vienna Conventions of 1961 on diplomatic relations and of 1964 on consular relations were drawn up by the United Nations (UN) and ratified by the participating nations. However, to the great surprise, non-Western peoples have realized that UN organizations are moving further and further away from the ideals of their founders to serve the West. Hence, the birth and rise in power of poles of protest on the scale of the BRICS Alliance, without ignoring other major alliances such as ASEAN and MERCOSUR. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in West Africa is the central core of the constitution of the pole of protest of the unipolar world order. France’s loss of influence and the expansion of the sphere of influence of the Russian Federation in this region of Africa constitutes a giant step in the transition towards a just and multipolar world. The BRICS Alliance with its powerful lever of the “New Development Bank” could certainly change the course of the history of international relations and reshape the geostrategic configuration of the world scene.
Mohamed Lamine KABA – Expert in geopolitics of governance and regional integration, Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pan-African University, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”