Aug 29th 2022

The End of Stability 

by Joschka Fischer

Joschka Fischer, Germany’s Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor from 1998 until 2005, was a leader in the German Green Party for almost 20 years.

 

BERLIN – The world is reeling from an extraordinary confluence of crises, including Russia’s war of aggression in Europe, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, sweeping trade and supply-chain disruptions, inflation, food insecurity, and all the morbid symptoms of climate change. Though the world order built after World War II was far from perfect, it at least provided stability and ample opportunities for international cooperation. But now, it seems to be falling apart.

Russia, a nuclear great power, has attacked its neighbor for no good reason, indiscriminately murdering those whom it still calls its “brothers” and “sisters.” For six months now, the Kremlin has waged a bloody campaign of conquest that is more befitting of the 1940s than the 2020s.

And Eastern Europe is not alone. The specter of war – and a conflict between the twenty-first century’s two superpowers – also looms over the Taiwan Strait. China is escalating its military threat against Taiwan, and thereby increasing the risk of a direct armed confrontation with the United States.

Nor can we forget Iran, which has been pursuing its nuclear program in earnest since former US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018. A nuclear-armed Iran would introduce a new permanent risk of war in a region that is already supercharged with geopolitical tensions and volatility.

Together, Eastern Europe, the Taiwan Strait, and the Middle East form a triad of extraordinarily dangerous crises that are unraveling the post-Cold War global order and its core principles of non-violence, international cooperation, and economic globalization. The primary beneficiaries of that order – East Asia and Western advanced economies such as Germany – are already suffering the effects of this thoroughgoing destruction. Snarled supply chains, the breakdown of trade, and surging inflation are proof of a new economic reality.

When the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the Cold War and its zero-sum confrontation between rival geopolitical blocs, the West was able to capitalize on its victory because it seemed to have an attractive alternative model to offer. Its message to post-communist and other developing and emerging economies was, “Just follow our example. A market economy and democracy will deliver modernity, prosperity, and stability.”

Yet beyond the European Union, North America, and East Asia, this formula never really worked as promised. The biggest economic success stories were found in places like China and Singapore, which adopted some market reforms without the democracy. And when the 2008 financial crisis erupted in the US and quickly spread to the rest of the world, many came to doubt the superiority of the Western model.

The question now is whether the new great-power rivalries will evolve into a broader systemic confrontation between democracy (the US and Europe) and authoritarianism (China and Russia). Is Cold War II upon us?

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is. But the situation today is also much more difficult and complicated than in the late 1940s, when Cold War I began. To the new-old risk of violent conflict (in Europe, East Asia, or the Middle East) must be added the increasingly severe effects of climate change. As this summer’s unprecedented heatwaves in both China and Europe have shown, the climate crisis will amplify the new geopolitical and economic crises. No longer can humanity afford to ignore or postpone investments in climate adaptation and mitigation, which will require a full remodeling of the world’s industrialized societies.

The first Cold War ultimately was decided by the nuclear-arms race and the superiority of the Western economic system. This one will be decided by the ability to build a more equitable global order and to resolve the climate crisis. To win, Western democracies will have to offer something that truly benefits everyone. While military armaments will remain important as deterrents against potential adversaries, the key decisions will be taken in other domains.

The important thing to bear in mind about the climate crisis is that it is not typical of human societies’ historical progression. Whereas most crises occur within the existing system and eventually yield to a return to normality, we are now facing a crisis of the system itself. Like it or not, a new reality is announcing itself and demonstrating that there will be no return to the status quo ante. Humanity’s destruction of the environment and altering of the climate have precluded any continuation of existing models.

Russian aggression certainly poses a threat; but it is a familiar one that we know how to deal with. Rising temperatures, dry riverbeds, parched landscapes, falling crop yields, acute energy shortages, and disruptions to industrial production are something else. We have known for a long time that these problems were coming; but we did nothing, because a truly effective response would require a break from the past and a systemic overhaul of our politics, economies, and societies.

Most states have been unwilling to undertake such a project. But one must ask: When the consequences of the climate crisis become even more painfully obvious, will we still have time to mend our ways? Or will the climate already have passed irreversible tipping points, ushering in a new Heat Age that makes life worse for almost everyone?


Joschka Fischer, Germany’s foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader of the German Green Party for almost 20 years. 

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022.
www.project-syndicate.org 

 


This article is brought to you by Project Syndicate that is a not for profit organization.

Project Syndicate brings original, engaging, and thought-provoking commentaries by esteemed leaders and thinkers from around the world to readers everywhere. By offering incisive perspectives on our changing world from those who are shaping its economics, politics, science, and culture, Project Syndicate has created an unrivalled venue for informed public debate. Please see: www.project-syndicate.org.

Should you want to support Project Syndicate you can do it by using the PayPal icon below. Your donation is paid to Project Syndicate in full after PayPal has deducted its transaction fee. Facts & Arts neither receives information about your donation nor a commission.

 

 

Browse articles by author

More Current Affairs

Nov 16th 2008

One of the most important changes envisaged by the Barack Obama administration will be new and softer ways to deploy American influence abroad. Eight years of hubris under George W. Bush has taken its toll, as the failed "Freedom Agenda" drove the U.S.

Nov 15th 2008

Decline-o-mania is back! Talk of America's diminished weight, a "non-polar world" and the rise of Asia's new superpowers to overtake the West dominates political and academic debate on both sides of the Atlantic.

Nov 13th 2008

After eight years of misguided policy by the Bush administration in the Middle East, the time is overdue for an enlightened strategy to tackle the region's woes.

Nov 13th 2008

NEW HAVEN - The world's fundamental economic problem today is a staggering loss of business confidence.

Nov 10th 2008

Quite suddenly, everyone has started looking at maps again. With energy prices spiralling out of control - and energy producing countries growing in confidence as a result - the great game of geopolitics has made a dramatic and unwelcome return.

Nov 10th 2008

The growing speculation, fed by the musings of Vice President Elect Joseph Biden, that the incoming Obama Administration would shortly face a nice, neat - if painful - "generated" test of its abilities and its courage is not likely.

Nov 6th 2008

NEW YORK - The world is sinking into a major global slowdown, likely to be the worst in a quarter-century, perhaps since the Great Depression. This crisis was "made in America," in more than one sense.

Nov 6th 2008

Europeans breathed a sigh of relief at the election of Democrat Barack Obama as the first black U.S. president, ending eight years of growing anxiety over the veiled unilateralism of George W. Bush's administration.

Nov 5th 2008

The Niger government has been found guilty of an embarrassing failure to protect an individual from the insidious practice of slavery.

Nov 4th 2008

NAIROBI - As a child in rural Kenya, I was a secret admirer of female genital mutilation. I was swayed by talk of friends and elders about how once a girl undergoes "the cut," she gains respect and grown men consider her suitable for marriage.

Nov 3rd 2008

As senator Obama is heading for his election victory, the expectations for him in Europe could not possibly be more unrealistic and without foundation.

Nov 3rd 2008

Conventional wisdom has it that one of the few ways left for John McCain to win the presidency is for a national security crisis to intervene before election day.

Nov 2nd 2008

NEW YORK - This global economic crisis will go down in history as Greenspan's Folly. This is a crisis made mainly by the United States Federal Reserve Board during the period of easy money and financial deregulation from the mid-1990's until today.

Oct 31st 2008

Shanghai-When scholars from all across China gathered here recently to assess their country's role in the afterglow of the Olympics, their pride shone as bright as the waxing Autumn Festival moon.

Oct 31st 2008

Now that the rock bottom of the global financial crisis has been visited, it is time to stop running with the lemmings and start thinking.

One of the best places to do this is the OECD.

Oct 28th 2008

NEW YORK - The winner of America's presidential election will inherit a perfect storm of problems, both economic and international. He will face the most difficult opening-day agenda of any president since - and I say this in all seriousness - the man who saved the Union, Abraham Lincoln.