As the Unipolar World Collapses, What Comes Next?

It is lawful that concurrent with the collapse of the transatlantic financial system and the consequent danger of nuclear annihilation, the drive for a new world economic order is rapidly expanding, at least outside of the so-called West. A new system of cooperation and trade, as we have consistently reported, is emerging within the framework of the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the revival of a non-aligned movement in the Global South.

An eloquent example of this was manifest during the visit of Chinese President Xi to Saudi Arabia last week, for discussions with leaders of the entire Arab world. The issue of oil and gas supplies was high on the agenda, in addition to the use of local currencies in trade, but also cultural exchanges (cf. below).

Helga Zepp-LaRouche described this process in an interview with Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov, aired Dec. 7 on his TV show Solovyov Live, calling it “unstoppable”. The “unipolar world” is finished, she said, but simply replacing it by some sort of “multipolar world”, is inadequate. To define a new international security and development architecture, she explained, we need to move to a much higher conception of mankind and the means to ensure the “long-term survivability of our species”.

To contribute to that discussion, Helga Zepp-LaRouche has proposed for further debate “ten principles” that should underlie the new world order (cf. SAS 48/22 and https://schillerinstitute.com/blog/2022/11/30). The tenth, she told Soloyvov, is the most important, as it asserts that “the basic assumption for the new paradigm is, that man is fundamentally good”, and capable of improvement, and that evil is the result of a lack of development.

Therefore, Zepp-LaRouche said she is confident that a solution to the present calamity can be found. A similar conception, she added, is promoted by Xi Jinping as the notion of a “shared community of the future of mankind”.

A potentially crucial contribution has now come from India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who assumed the presidency of the G20 on Dec. 1. In an article published the same day on his blog and in the Indian press, he wrote that India intends to use its presidency to help “catalyze a fundamental mindset shift, to benefit humanity as a whole.” He asserts that while humanity has lived until now under conditions of scarcity, fighting over limited resources, and remains “trapped in the same zero-sum mindset” to this day, that can now change, because “we have the means to produce enough to meet the basic needs of all people in the world…. Today’s technology also gives us the means to address problems on a humanity-wide scale.”

Achieving that should be the agenda of the G20 process, he stated. And moreover, “India’s G20 presidency will work to promote this universal sense of the one-ness” of all of humanity.

While it is the case that the Group of 20, which remains dominated by the G7, is not the ideal forum for achieving a positive shift in global power, Prime Minister Modi also intends to invite other countries of the Global South (but not only), to participate in the deliberations.