The Military Underpinning of the Geopolitical Revolution

Abstract

Among the reasons for the ongoing geopolitical revolution, unprecedented rapid change in the global balance of power away from the West and Europe and toward China and Asia—profound yet rarely noted shift of the military-political foundation on which world order is ultimately based. The world was “multipolar” until the sixteenth century, when Europe started to achieve military superiority that served as the basis of its economic, political, and cultural expansion and its ability to channel global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to its own advantage. This situation began to change after the Soviet Union, and later China, developed nuclear weapons. This increasingly deprived the West of its ability to impose its interests through military force. Seeking to ensure its fundamental security interests, Russia has become a sort of “midwife of history” by largely ushering in the current shift in the global balance of power and by expanding the freedom of choice available to the world’s countries and peoples.