From Integrity to the New Split and Rivalry? (World-System and World Order in Changing Realities)

The collapse of the Soviet Union and socialist commonwealth contributed to the reconstruction of integrity of the World-System. These changes became a major global transformation of the second half of the XX century. Then there was an opinion that over time the model of liberal capitalism would be established in all countries. However the restoration of the integrity of the global world did not lead to shaping of its homogeneity. New contradictions emerged both between developed and developing countries and within the core countries of the World-System. All of this undermined stability of the system and contributed to the gradual distraction of the unipolar world order. Russia initially tried to be integrated into the new world reality and become the main partner of the USA as a center of the World-System. However the plans of the United States and its allies did not provide that Russia would retain its role as an important and independent actor in world politics. As a result, Russia’s integration into the West did not take place. Nevertheless having made the transition to an independent policy not subordinated to the USA and its allies Russia could not claim to create alternative global social project as the Soviet Union had. To do this Russia had neither resources nor attractive idea for the rest of the world. As China began to turn into economic superpower it seemed that Beijing was not going to offer the world its own social project alternative to liberal capitalism but it claimed only to take place in existing global system corresponding to its economic impact. Situation was changed after the USA in the middle of the 10-th felt in China a serious rival and moved to the policy of deterrence of it. China began to work out its own model of the world order. Now in comparison with the past many experts suppose that Chinese model of the social and political order may be used by other developing countries. Will this lead to emergence of the new global project alternative to the Western liberal capitalism and to distraction of integrity of the World-System? Will there be a new global transformation as a result of current processes? This article is devoted to the analysis of probable prospects of these tendencies of the world development. 

1. Arrighi G. (2006) My Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times, Moscow: Territoriya Buduschego (in Russian).

2. Baranovskij V.G., Ivanova N.I. (eds.) (2015) Global Governance: Opportunities and Risks, Moscow: IMEMO RAN (in Russian).

3. Bauman Z. (2004) Globalization. The Human and Societal Consequences, Moscow: Ves’ Mir (in Russian).

4. Borokh O., Lomanov A. (2018) China’s New Epoch: From Seeking Wealth To Gaining Strength. Mirovaya Ekonomika i Mezhdunarodnye Otnosheniya, vol. 62, no 3, pp. 59–70 (in Russian). DOI: 10.20542/0131-2227-2018-62-3-59-70

5. Campbell K.M., Ratner E. (2018) The China Reckoning. How Beijing Defied American Expectations. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2018. Available at: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2018-02-13/china-reckoning, accessed 31.10.2019.

6. Chernenko Ye. (2017) Sergei Lavrov Announced a New Era in International Relations. Foreign Minister Delivered a Keynote Speech in Munich. Kommersant.ru, February 18, 2017. Available at: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3224056, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

7. Fukuyama F. (1990) The End of History? Voprosy Filosofii, no 3, pp. 134–148. Available at: http://alt-future.narod.ru/Future/fuku1.htm, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

8. Gat A. (2007) The Return of Authoritarian Great Powers. Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007. Available at: https://foreignaffars/articles/china/2007-07-01/return-authoritarian-great-powers, accessed 31.10.2019.

9. Ho-fung Hung (2017) Hegemonic Crisis, Comparative Systems, and Future of Pax Americana. Journal of World-Systems Research, vol. 23, no 2, pp. 637–648. DOI: 10.5195/JWSR.2017.723

10. Jacquers M. (2009) When China Rules the World. The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World, London, New York: Penguin Books.

11. Kagarlitskij B. (2004) The Peripheral Empire. Russia and World-System, Moscow: Ultra-Kultura (in Russian).

12. Karaganov S. (2017) A New Era of Confrontation. Russia in Global Affairs, no 6. Available at: https://globalaffairs.ru/number/Novaya-epokha-protivostoyaniya-19198, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

13. Kissinger H. (2015) About China, Moscow: AST (in Russian).

14. Komlosy A. (2016) Prospects of Decline and Hegemonic Shifts for the West. Journal of World-Systems Research, vol. 22, no 2, pp. 463–483. DOI: 10.5195/JWSR.2016.627

15. Kortunov A. (2016) The Inevitability of the Strange World. Russia in Global Affairs, July 16, 2016. Available at: https://globalaffairs.ru/global-processes/Neizbezhnost-strannogo-mira-18288, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

16. Kuvaldin V.B. (2017) The Global World. Politics. Economy. Social Relations, Moscow: Ves’ Mir (in Russian).

17. Lapkin V.V., Pantin V.I., Ryabov A.V. (2014) A New Periphery. Difficulties of Post-communist Development. Global perestroika. Chapter 8. (eds. Dynkin A.A., Ivanova N.I.), Moscow: Ves’ Mir, pp. 185–208 (in Russian).

18. Lukin A.V. (2019) Discussion on the Development of China and Prospects for Its Foreign Policy. Polis, no 1, pp. 71–89 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2019.01.06

19. Matyash A. (2001) Russia is Proposed to Join NATO. Gazeta.ru, November 17, 2017. Available at: https://www.gazeta.ru/2001/11/17/rossiipredlo.shtml, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

20. Petrovskiy V.E. (2019) US-China Trade Wars: Economy or Geopolitics? Problemy Dalnego Vostoka, no 2, pp. 51–58 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31857/S013128120004638-2

21. Prospects of Chinese Reforms in a Changed World: Round Table. Part 1. “External Context of Reforms, Chinese-American Relations, Discussions on Economic Liberalization and Evaluation of Reforms

22. Deepening in China (2019). Comparative Politics, vol. 10, no 2, pp. 99–117. Available at: https://elibrary.ru/download/elibrary_38220798_24997384.pdf, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

23. Putin Invited Clinton to Consider the Option of Russia’s Accession to NATO. TASS, June 6, 2017. Available at: https://tass.ru/politika/4310986, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).

24. Shi-Kupfer K., Ohlberg M. (2019) China’s Digital Rise. Challenges for Europe. MERICS Papers on China, no 7. Available at: https://www.merics.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/MPOC_No.7_ChinasDigitalRise_web_final.pdf, accessed 31.10.2019.

25. Trenin D. (2006) Integration and Identity: Russia as the “New West”, Moscow: Evropa (in Russian).

26. Trenin D. (2009) Solo Voyage, Moscow: Izdatel’stvo R. Elinina (in Russian).

27. Vainshtein G.I. (2017) Modern Populism as a Subject of Political Science. Polis, no 4, pp. 69–89 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2017.04.06

28. Vinogradov A.O. (ed.) (2018) The Decisions of the XIX Congress of CPC and Perspective of Russian-Chinese Relations, Moscow: IDV RAN (in Russian).

29. Vinogradov A.V., Ryabov A.V. (2019) Political Systems of Post-Soviet States and China in the Process of Inter-System Transformation. Polis, no 3, pp. 69–86 (in Russian). DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2019.03.05

30. Vinogradov A.V., Salitskiy A.I. (2019) Can We Speak of a New Social Formation in China? Vestnik Rossiiskoj Akademii Nauk, vol. 89, no 2, pp. 172–178 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31857/S0869-5873892172-178

31. Voloshina A.V. (2019) China in “Pasific Pivot” of the USA. Problemy Dalnego Vostoka, no 2, pp. 43–50 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31857/S013128120004637-1

32. Wallershtein I. (2003) The End of the World as We Know It, Moscow: Logos (in Russian).

33. Wallershtein I. (2006) World-Systems Analysis: an Introduction, Moscow: Territoriya buduschego (in Russian).

34. Zharkov V., Zakharov А., Ryabov А., Simon M. (2017) Russian Revolution 1917 for Our Country and the World: Look a Hundred Years Later, Moscow: Gorbachov-Foundation. Available at: http://www.gorby.ru/userfiles/file/doklad.pdf, accessed 31.10.2019 (in Russian).