When the Berlin Wall fell, the so-called “winds of freedom” began to blow so vigorously that no one dared raise their voice even when the first signs appeared that the new global system, which would throw the whole world into fire in a few decades, had begun to drag humanity into a dystopia.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the morbid “freedom” approach, which prioritized the West’s self-interest, had a long-lasting impact on the world.
It was time to listen to the famous Rock band Scorpions’ “Winds of Change” song and unconditionally internalize its lyrics!
Although there were doubts as to where these winds of change would take or move humanity, the paradise promised by the neo-liberal system almost brought about a global eclipse of reason.
When people realized that they had almost lost the freedom to question the deprivation of their freedom to criticize this new concept of freedom, the new quarterbacks of the global system had already taken matters into their own hands.
Global balances are being re-established; international relations are taking shape through this new paradigm; the bipolar world of the Cold War was being replaced by a new hegemonic order in which the West was unrivaled.
But the world was burst into tears and blood on the eve of the 21st century.
When it was seen that the paradise promised by the new neo-liberal system was a complete lie, with the massacre in Bosnia, the separation of Kosovo from Serbia, the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq; then the unipolar global system began to be questioned in depth.
On the other hand, the effect of identity politics imposed from the other side of the Atlantic during this period, which eliminated the concept of nation, disintegrated the unitary states, marginalized the unlike ones, and caused societies to anchor in micro-nationalism, religious fascism, ignorance, and mediocrity, had affected the world like a plague.
Identity politics was the most important apparatus available to global quarterbacks in that process.
Especially in Europe, racism and the extreme right became stronger, while the leftist/socialist and social democratic section was almost paralyzed in the face of identity politics from the other side of the Atlantic.
The fact that leftist/socialist and social democratic politics could not develop a new and strong argument against identity politics, almost became ashamed of its national identity and remained inactive smooth the way for right-wing politics as much as possible.
Parallel to this, and because of this, a period has begun in which religions, sects and ethnic identities are prioritized in international politics.
The West has made intensive efforts to shape the political and social structures of countries that it has interest in according to religions, sects, and ethnic identities.
The popular movements that started in the Middle East and North Africa countries, called the Arab Spring in 2011, gave this opportunity to the West.
This was in fact a project to bring the Muslim Brotherhood, which gained speed with the support from the West to power in the Middle East and North Africa.
It was intended that a political Islamist structure, which was compatible with the West, adopted a neo-liberal system, did not step on global capital barons’ toes, and even cooperated with them, would rule the countries with energy resources and on energy routes according to Islamic rules.
However, things did not go as planned.
The West did not get the result it wanted from the Arab Spring.
Towards the second decade of the 2000s, the world began to be shaken by economic and social crises.
The clogging of the neo-liberal economic system and income injustice on a global scale triggered uncontrolled migratory movements. We’ve got an east-to-west, south-to-north influx of global migration.
In addition, the “perception of terror” created by the increasing use of ethnic nationalist and radical religious structures, which the West started to instrumentalize in the 1950s, first led to the questioning of trust in the state apparatus and then to a strong shake-up of the foundations of the economic, political, and social order that shaped the global system after the Cold War.
In the 1990s, the conditions that emerged after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the international security system that took shape after 9/11 were no longer valid.
The world’s need for a new system of equilibrium and an equitable and fair order that this system would bring was increasing.
In this process, China and Russia emerged with the demand to have as much influence in the global system as the West.
Russia’s hydrocarbon reserves and weapons technology, China’s economic growth and export capacity, and the fact that the latter has become the world’s “supplier” in the last 30 years have already been pushing the balances for some time.
In the world that has been suffering from the unipolar system since 1990, a de facto multipolar order has gradually begun to emerge.
On the other hand, it was clear that identity politics was not the answer to the problems of societies, but it planted seeds of hostility and hatred among people.
The most powerful apparatus in the hands of global quarterbacks was now dysfunctional.
Immediately after the world faced the pandemic in 2019, NATO’s targeting Russia through Ukraine, the resulting war in Ukraine, and NATO’s defining China as an “adversary” at the last Madrid summit were in a sense the efforts of the West to maintain its own hegemonic order.
However, as this effort became vain, the outlines of a new multipolar order began to become apparent, contrary to what the U.S. and its allies intended. The West has tested the power of Russia and China in the global system, where it is wrestling in a sense through NATO. As a result, the political/strategic and military ground of the multipolar order emerged despite all the information bombardment that nurtured negative perceptions in the international public, although in itself there was a potential risk of conflict and perhaps global hot war.
Can a new and powerful system of equilibrium be established on this ground?
It may be premature to answer this today, but we can say that China and Russia are now emerging as a new element of equilibrium against the West, that is, the U.S. and the EU, and perhaps as new determinants of the global system.
In any case, from now on, we will have to approach geopolitics and geostrategy differently, both on a regional and global scale.
On the Grand Chessboard, let us conclude by strongly emphasizing that each country will have to plan the steps it will take next according to this new approach.