Multi-Polarity to Replace American Dominance at Global Level: Analyst

Attended by Dr. Leonid Savin the geopolitical analyst, founder and chief editor of Journal of Eurasian Affairs, the sixth session in a series of preliminary meetings of the 2nd International Conference on the ‘Decline of ‎the United States: The Post-American World’, was held by the Secretariat of the conference on “the ‎Emergent Multi-polarity and Rise of Non-Western Theories of International Relations, during which Savin shared his thoughts about “the clear marks,” which he believed are indications of end of the US leadership in the world.

For example, in 2003 when American troops invaded Iraq, many European countries strongly opposed this intervention. Most of the smart analysts said it was the death of the American dominance.

“There are many signs of the downfall of American leadership not only internally but also on a global level,” he said.

“The European countries who are US partners inside of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also eager to be more independent from the United States,” he maintained.

Savin referred to many countries like China, Russia, and Iran, and also some other small countries and many non-profit organizations who not only talk about a new type of world order, but also are very critical of American dominance and American influence. “Many talk about problems with ecology and climate change,” he added, “and believe that most of the pollution comes from the United States.”

“This is only one aspect of America’s bad influence on the world,” Dr. Savin continued. “We can also talk about dollar dominance. And now we see that Russia and China, for example, have bilateral trade and do not use dollar anymore. Russia has also the same contract with the Islamic Republic of Iran and will not use dollar anymore in their bilateral trade. I think it's very significant.”

He stated that Mexico wants to be a more independent from the United States. It is a country that has a long border with the United States and seeks to have more cooperation with Cuba, despite sanctions from United States, and to have more contact with Argentina and different countries of Latin America. It's a very good sign that American dominance is over and we are going to start a new type of international relations.

“I'm sure that we are in a kind of transition period,” he said. “We are going to have multi-polarity in the world. It's very clear.”

“Politically the United States has become very weak now,” said Dr. Savin, “but they're still powerful in military dominance. They're still powerful because of their economic tools; for example, World Bank and International Monetary Fund and different types of transnational and intergovernmental organizations led by United States. However, more countries are now looking for autonomy. So, step by step, we see that we will have a new type of relations sooner or later.”

Savin pointed out that there are different points of view about the future of the world. For example, according to the balance of power theory, there should be another actor who will provide a balance to the United States. China has proposed strategy of win-win for many countries; even for the United States. “It depends on which type of theory we are looking for and what kind of strategy we will choose for the development,” he asserted. “From my point of view, we should be more careful about using Western theories of international relations.”

“Racism, Euro-centrism, the idea of dominance, colonialism, and everything from the Western viewpoint, even the idea of human rights is based on Western theories,” Dr. Savin emphasized. “So, we need to speak about a new approach. We need to cooperate with our neighboring countries and develop our own types of theories for international relations which is rooted in our traditions and our own viewpoints. It may be difficult in the beginning, but we need to do this to avoid any threat from the Western theories and Western strategies.”

“Of course, we have the United Nations which is the most important [international] organization for the moment,” he went on to say. “However, we need to reorganize these types of organizations because we cannot resolve many of our serious problems because western actors just use these organizations for their own benefits. We need to reform the United Nations and maybe think about establishing similar organizations. As regards a new order, we need to organize new types of unions, organizations, alliances, etc. For example, Iran’s entrance into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a very good step and also Iran can join the Eurasian Economic Union. We have also BRICS. We can do the same in Eurasia. Just we need to start to do something.”

Concerning the importance of relationships between Iran and Russia, Dr. Savin said that Iran should build up a close partnership with Russian Federation in many aspects, such as economic, political and also military aspects. “Iran already has good economic relations with Russia,” he added, “but I think we should cooperate more for strategic, security reasons and also especially for building North-South Strategic Corridor between Russia and Iran. Of course, Iran is a very powerful actor in the region. And the role of Iran is very important for Moscow.”

“We need to be careful about some provocation attempts from special services of the United States and Britain and maybe some groups in the region, like what we see now because of tensions between Azerbaijan and Islamic Republic of Iran,” Savin pointed out. “If we are to start more cooperation, we should be more prepared for any type of challenge both for Iran and for Russia. And of course, we're in the same club of sanctions from the United States and we are in the same list of 'biggest threats' to the United States.”

He considered Shanghai Cooperation Organization useful for building a new type of regional security and believed that Eurasia is the most significant and powerful continent in the world. “So, we need to think about Eurasia’s regional security,” he stressed, “and start some connection between the actors who have not joined Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and maybe try to engage Turkey, which is an important actor in the Middle East. We need to organize more platforms for regional cooperation, for example, to talk about security, education, and digital security, which is very important for now and for next years, and to develop local partnerships and cooperation on really huge regional projects.”

“First of all, I think we should be honest with ourselves and about what we want from a new world order,” he concluded, “because in many cases we just copy and paste the western attitude and behavior and try to be like America for example. Of course, we as countries and we as people have other types of mindsets and we should start from our own political views and what we really want from the new world order. We should find our own way to be in this new world order and to be a powerful pole in this world but not a hegemonic one.”

The 2nd International Conference on the Decline of the United States: The Post-American World will be held on November 2, 2021, by Imam Hussein Comprehensive University and the Secretariat of the Expediency Discernment Council, in cooperation with the universities and research institutes.

For more information, interested parties may see the conference website at www.usdecline.ir and the virtual pages of the conference secretariat on social media at @usdecline.