When the Cold War ended, a lot of smart people convinced themselves that good old-fashioned Power Politics was a thing of the past. As Bill Clinton said that when he had first run for President, the “cynical calculas of pure Power Politics simply does not compute. It is ill-suited to a new era“. Instead of being roiled by Power Politics, the world was going to be united by markets, shared democratic values, and the internet; and humankind would concentrate on getting rich and living well.

There is no mystery as to why this outlook appealed to Americans, who assumed this benign vision would unfold under Washington DC’s benevolent guidance. However, the last 25 years teaches the global community that this particular view was, as usual, premature, and Great-Power Politics has come back with a vengeance.

Of course, the US never abandoned Power Politics, and Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden emphasised the need to preserve the US’ position as the world’s most powerful nation. They understood that their ability to exercise Global Leadership would depend on US primacy and especially its privileged position as the only major power in the Western Hemisphere.

This position gives US policy-makers the freedom to wander around and meddle in lots of other places something they would not be able to do, if the US were weaker or if it had to worry about defending its own territory against serious dangers.

However, the US is not alone. China’s increasingly assertive policies toward its immediate neighbourhood shows that Beijing is hardly indifferent to Geopolitics, and Russia’s assertive defence of what it sees as vital interests in its near abroad (e.g., Ukraine) suggests that somebody in Moscow did not get the memo about the benign effects of Globalisation. Meanwhile, Regional Powers, like India, Turkey and Japan, are taking Traditional Geopolitical concerns more seriously these days.

The bottom line is: If one thought that Great-Power rivalry was a thing of the past, s/he should think again.

Source: Talk Diplomacy (Instagram)

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das