Professor Jeremić will examine the transformation of the international system from the post-Cold War unipolar moment toward a more diffuse and contested distribution of power. He will reflect on how the interaction of three structural developments—Russia’s estrangement from the European security order, China’s rise within the global economic system, and the political dislocations produced by globalization—helped bring the preceding geopolitical cycle to an end, with 2008 as a possible inflection point. Drawing on the “many-body problem” as an analytical metaphor, he will consider how order can be sustained in a system characterized by multiple centers of power, divergent political models, and weakening institutional consensus. He will also evaluate alternative trajectories of multipolarity—from strategic fragmentation to managed coexistence and cooperative order—and their implications for global governance.
Walid Hammam
walid_hammam@wcfia.harvard.edu