Today’s international security environment indicates that what political scientist Walter Russel Mead called “the return of geopolitics” has become the rule of the game.
For about two decades after the end of the Cold War, there was a more-or-less global consensus about the direction of the world order. Even when actions were taken to undermine it, the international community maintained its support for a free and open international order.
Now, however, these premises have been mainly lost. The power, institutions and values that underpin the international security order are being compromised worldwide. Emerging powers have not only raised objections to the West-centered worldview but have even begun to seek alternative orders among themselves.