Imagine a world not run by Western powers - Davos can
Delegates discussed the possibility of a new international balance on the second day of the World Econmic Forum in Davos. “Orchestrating a new concert of powers” was the topic in all the sessions – from climate change and nuclear
Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin has raised a question of enlarging the number of members of the UN Security Council and the G8.
“We are discussing a very timely issue of widening the G8 – perhaps it will be the G13. We have to enlarge the UN Security Council, the IMF should also review and revise its shareholding structure and enlarge the share to include the emerging markets,” Kudrin said.
James Hoge, ‘Foreign Affairs’ Editor, believes major international institutions do not reflect the new correlation of forces.
“After all, all our major international institutions were built after a great crisis of the WW2. They’re still with us and they don’t represent where the power is today,” he said.
The majority in Davos believe the world is heading towards multi-polarity – and it’s not so much about the U.S. loosing its power, as about the others who are rising.
“I’m not sure if it is going to be a new world order or a new world disorder – but it will certainly become a more multi-polar and messier world,” said George Yong-Boon Yeo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore.
And that works for both politics and economics.
“For the first time here in Davos it was said openly and loudly by some key players: enough, we don’t respect dollar as the single global reserve currency,” explained Pavel Teplukhin, Troika Dialogue President.
However, members of the Bush Administration think that such estimates are premature.
“I think that people always have a tendency to look at a particular episode in the economic activity and to draw conclusions from it. I remember 25 years ago when the Japanese were doing very well and we heard that the U.S. has lost its economic power – it’s all moved to Japan, then of course Japan had economic difficulties and it disappeared,” Michael Chertoff, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security commented.
