Shaping Or Disrupting The World System?

There are many strong leaders in Europe, Japan, Turkey, Iran and Israel who are influencing the happenings in the world and working in alliance with each other. However, four leaders – Trump, Xi, Putin and Modi – and their interactions and strategies are going to be more significant in shaping the future world order, writes VIJAY KUMAR KAUL, explaining these four leaders’ world views, governance systems, domestic and foreign strategies.

- Vijay Kumar Kaul

Four global leaders, namely, Donald Trump, Xi Jing ping, Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi, their world-views, governance system, strategies in domestic economy and foreign policy, alliance politics, and mutual relationship are going to shape post-Global crisis world-order. Xi Jing ping, leader of China, is challenging the supremacy of the United States (hence Trump). Putin, leader of Russia, is reasserting to seek its old glory during the Cold war period by demonstrating its military strength and aligning with countries challenging the United States and its allies. The moves and countermoves of these three leaders are, more often than not, disrupting the world order in more senses than one. Modi of India, on the other hand, wants a stable and rules-based world order that will benefit India as well as the rest of the world.

Instead of helping to solve global issues and challenges, Trump is withdrawing from a number of global treaties signed by the past leaders of United States and entering into trade wars, imposing sanctions and in the process annoying its own time-tested allies in Europe, North America and Asia. Xi is attempting to fill the space vacated by Trump by asserting globalisation and international multilateralism. But in reality and practice, Xi is the one who resorted to unilateralism in the South China Sea and bilateralism by entering into treaties and contracts with around 65 countries individually in his pet project ‘Belt Road Initiative’. Putin has been challenging the US-dominated international order and also willing to work with China to fight the American hegemony. In the process, Putin has not hesitated to disrupt world peace by occupying Crimea (Ukraine). Modi is the only one who is respecting the existing rules of international law and renewing old linkages with all countries of the world on partnership basis.

Evolution of world economy and politics