Mammadov Elshad (Azerbaijan) speech at the Global Conference on Multipolarity
Mammadov Elshad (Azerbaijan) – Professor, Odlar Yurdu University.
Dear participants of the round table, I would like first to welcome you and express my gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this event.
As we are now witnessing, a new world order, a vastly different one from previous concepts, is in the making. The limitation of "Atlantic" domination that has disastrous consequences for the rest of humanity is already underway. A multipolar world is the guarantor of development, security, and equal cooperation for the nations of the world. Most importantly, a multipolar world provides a unique opportunity to preserve national identity and national consciousness. There is one characteristic trait to a unipolar world — one major centre of economic and political influence. That is, the dominance of the United States and its allies. Thus, this power configuration provides an opportunity to benefit this centre of power by achieving its selfish interests. At the same time, of course, the other nations are forced to give up their core interests and their sovereignty is often just not more worth than a paper on which it is declared. Based on this we can fairly conclude that the Eurasian space is a platform which is fit for the task of developing standards of pluralism, which are increasingly actively replacing Eurocentric views in international codes. Thus, the global political and economic centre is moving from Europe to the Eurasia. As new centres of power such as Russia, China, India, Turkey, Brazil are forming in an irreversible fashion. This is actively facilitated by the increasing regionalism of the global economy.
And I would like to note that one of the important concepts within the idea of Eurasianism is multipolarity.
Sustainable and stable growth of the world economy is another important aspect of the topic at hand. The multipolar nature of the system of international relations is fundamental to the effective growth of the global economy, which is essential to improving living conditions of people around the world. And the future of a multipolar world depends on the turbulence and nature of relationships and cooperation between the strong states on the global arena. Emerging of new centres of growth in the global political, economic, and cultural context also offers more real options for the transition to a multipolar world. A multipolar world gives rise to a sense of responsibility for the fate of the world for all the people. We believe that a multipolar world can serve as an ideological impetus for constructive and peaceful dialogue between political actors. That is, the main geopolitical construct of the system in transformation is the development of ideas for common cultural, historical, civilizational reference points for the countries and common economic interests. Thus, new economic integration processes and initiatives have the power to rapidly change the overall nature of relations and cooperation between nations on the global scale, creating new centres of regional economic growth. Today it is safe to say that ideas around multipolarity are becoming increasingly certain, despite the resistance from individual countries. By strengthening their close interaction, these countries are creating a powerful global economic platform and a mega-civilization community.
A world order based on a multipolar configuration can ensure stability and sustainability on the global scale primarily because geopolitical regions are, to different degrees, able to ensure the balanced development of the entire world. Existing and emerging centres of power that are globally interconnected have a significant potential with which they can exert influence far beyond their borders. Thus, the geopolitical system is built on greater predictability, which is key to maintain global security and peace. If our true goal is to act out of the interests of the whole civilization and prevent further damage, then the only way forward is to build a new balance of power between East and West. In addition, this is the only viable option that could allow Eurasia to gain the prospect of real geopolitical sovereignty.
Analysing the processes taking place in the modern world, we can make a fair conclusion that we as a humankind are at a historical crossroads. At this moment and in this timeline, if we honestly and critically analyse current world affairs and all the major actors that shape them, we will realize that in this complex system, U.S. foreign policy inherently contradicts itself and it has a fatal flaw that has profound consequences for our civilization.
As we all already know, the ambition of U.S. foreign policy is a world dominated by the United States. This ambition by its very nature implies unwritten principles of behaviour by which the U.S. develops global financial and trade rules, maintains military hegemony, and thereby rises above all other emerging competitors. Moreover, perhaps needless to say, such continued dominance is not constructive for other participants in the global system. If the unipolar world remains unchanged, it will end up with new wars. There is an urgent need for U.S. foreign policy to process the idea that a multipolar world is a fair way forward for all parties.
Thus, the transition of the world to a new global geopolitical era, the aggravation of global problems, the emergence of new challenges and threats to security of the mankind, the expansion of high entropy zones and the fundamental restructuring of the global political framework after the collapse of the bipolar system and following decomposition of the unipolar world have revealed a vital need common to all countries and people. It is about joining the efforts of the main actors of international relations to develop a new framework capable of addressing the new realities of the geopolitical and development paradigm of the global community in the XXI century. Based on the review of the outcomes of the world's crisis development in recent years we see that in the current condition the most acceptable, sustainable, and safe model of the world order is a multipolarity.
Dear friends, I thank you for your attention and once again express my appreciation for the opportunity to participate in this event. Thank you.
