Dimitrios' World

Crises by definition portend systemic adjustments and instabilities. At the same time, however, they –by and large– provide opportunities, be it structural economic and political changes, domestic reforms and cooperation with other states and non-state actors at the regional and international level. The global economic crisis exemplifies this duality. Also, the crisis is at the same time economic and geopolitical in scope. The current crisis also introduces a time element as its likely duration and span are uncertain. The economic effects lie beyond this commentary albeit it is safe to say that the relevant economic and social models of choice applied by governments to cope with it impact upon their political instruments and policy choices. This is particularly the case given the pressure and demand for the state authorities to assume a more intervening role in the functioning of the market The crisis finds the international order in flux having entered into a new era charac...

The ongoing crisis in the Caucasus is a tell tale sign of a changing world whereby the unipolar world is slowly but surely being replaced by a post-American one. In this new world order, the challenge is to find a way to share power, to create a model of global governance where the United States, the European Union and the winners of globalization – countries such as Russia, China, Brazil, and India among others – all have a role. The war in Georgia clearly shows that the world has changed from the singular moment of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the splitting up of the Soviet Union soon after. The United States which reassessed its foreign policy and maintained its hegemony as the world’s leading power after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 now finds itself confronted with the reality that it is not omnipotent or at least with the fact that it cannot control the course of events on its own. In the grand chessboard that is, in this case at least, the quest for power...