Listen to any European or American leader talk about the transatlantic relationship these days and you will hear a handful of common refrains. Major policy addresses of this kind often start with the recognition that the world has changed. Europe and the United States face unprecedented challenges on the world stage, ranging from asymmetric warfare to non-state actors to the diffusion of technology to the return of great power politics. The speaker then reassures the audience by noting that, contrary to those arguing that the West is in decline, Europe and the United States come at these challenges from a position of strength. It has been the West, after all, that spent the last sixty years establishing the world order, and it is the West that has the ability to maintain and further develop the international order according to its common values.
Many, myself included, find these speeches reassuring. They ease the minds of policymakers that feel overwhelmed by world events and breed transatlantic confidence at a time of considerable uncertainty. But are they right? Even if one assumes that the West has the ability to shape today’s complex security environment (which is by no means a foregone conclusion), one has to ask if it possesses the will, innovation, and resources to actually do so. In truth, what Europe and the United States are actually doing in response to the changing face of geopolitics makes what they are saying far less inspiring.
Unimaginative “Reforms”
There is no question that the West deserves high praise for the creation of a global network of international institutions, laws, treaties, and norms. From the United Nations to NATO to the World Bank to the OECD, the West has invested decades in building, maintaining, and reforming the bedrock of the international order. With emerging powers, revisionist powers, and non-state actors actively challenging that system, though, how much is the West doing to either counter or adapt to those challenges?
The heads of major international institutions will tell you “a lot,” rattling off a long list of internal reforms over the better part of the last two decades. But such reforms have done little to halt Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Bashar al-Assad’s barrel bomb attacks against the Syrian people, the rise of Islamic State (IS), or China’s aggression in the East and South China Seas. Why? Many of the oft cited “reforms” are simply too unimaginative and timid. By tinkering on the margins, these reforms do little to get at the heart of the challenge. Bold structural reforms on the scale of revisiting the consensus rule in NATO or the veto on the UN Security Council are considered impossible, counter to our interests, or too high risk.
Jeremić u Bakuu: Srbija da se snažno odupre prihvatanju „Kosova“ kao nezavisne države
Predsednik Centra za međunarodne odnose i održivi razvoj (CIRSD) Vuk Jeremić izjavio je u Bakuu da bi Srbija trebalo da se snažno i hrabro odupre neprincipijelnim pritiscima da prihvati nezavisnost svoje južne pokrajine Kosova i Metohije.
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Jeremić: Prihvatanje „francusko-nemačkog“ plana bi bilo samoubistvo
Predsednik Centra za međunarodnu saradnju i održivi razvoj (CIRSD) i bivši predsednik Generalne skupštine UN Vuk Jeremić izjavio je na predavanju u Diplomatskoj akademiji u Beču da bi prihvatanje „francusko-nemačkog“ plana bilo „političko samoubistvo za bilo koga iz Srbije koji bi se usudio da potpiše takav sporazum“, jer bi to praktično značilo priznavanje takozvanog „Kosova“ kao nezavisne države.
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Jeremić, Lompar i Protić o ratu u Ukrajini, Rusiji i Kosovu i Metohiji
„Rat u Ukrajini je zapravo prvi oružani sukob od mnogih kojima ćemo biti savremenici, a u kojima će dva najkonsekventnija igrača 21. veka, SAD i Kina, uzeti indirektno ili direktno učešće. Slično kao što su se prvi put u 20. veku dve supersile sudarile i došle na ivicu direktnog sukoba oko ostrva na obalama jedne od njih, odnosno Kube, tako bi u 21. veku ta lokacija vrlo verovatno mogla biti Tajvan“, rekao je Jeremić.
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Jeremić i Šmit-Traub: Nastavak rata u Ukrajini izazvaće svetsku krizu hrane
„Rat u Ukrajini je produbio postojeću krizu u sistemu proizvodnje i potrošnje hrane, koja je posledica pandemije i smanjenih prihoda, kao i klimatskih promena koje se širom sveta dramatično odražavaju na poljoprivrednu proizvodnju“, rekao je Šmit-Traub na predavanju „Kako će se budućnost odraziti na poljoprivredu, hranu i vodu“, održanom u okviru CIRSD-ovog programa “Lideri budućnosti“, čiji su polaznici postdiplomski studenti iz svih krajeva sveta.
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