The situation is exemplary and characteristic. The more complex the surrounding world, and the more it comes out of all patterns, the more acute the desire to lead it into a simple and understandable pattern. Ideally – in two parts. Modern democracy fighting for good deeds against malicious and retrograde authoritarianism. The desire to simplify is understandable not only from a human point of view, but also purely instrumental. Decision makers need some sort of rationally understandable picture. In a way, having it is better than not having it at all, even if it’s wrong.
It’s time to recall the universal bestseller of the late 90s “The Flat World” by American journalist Thomas Friedman. He then had in mind the unification of everything and everyone within the framework of globalization. Now this metaphor assumes a different reading – that everything becomes somehow simpler and flatter, otherwise it is impossible to understand this frightening multidimensionality. Such an approach is characteristic of today’s international relations, and from there it affects the domestic politics of any country. But inside the states, the “ground” is closer, so real life still takes its toll. But on a global scale, it is more ambiguous.
Russia does not need to count on the support of “our truth” of the world majority
The G7 summit meeting the other day in Hiroshima has become a compelling illustration of efforts to fix, if not cement, this very two-dimensional pattern at the global level. Perhaps, for the first time, Russia and China have such clearly equal status – the enemy and the main threat to the world that the G7 represents. The organizers approached the expansion of the circle of supporters very seriously – all the main representatives of the non-Western world received invitations: India, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, heads of all major international organizations.
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p class=””>Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the main guest, and that’s an important point. The Ukrainian theme becomes, as it is now customary to say, the “gathering point” of the community, which sees itself as “the good side of history”. Interesting detail: the Japanese press writes that after the Hiroshima summit, Prime Minister Kishida thought of calling early elections, because the success of the event, in particular the arrival of the Ukrainian leader, increased the audience of his party. That is, Zelenskyy suddenly became a factor in the internal politics of a country far removed from Ukraine.
The need for a pronounced and personalized unifying pattern is understandable. In the absence of such elements, the community easily collapses, because the world, in fact, is not at all two-dimensional. It is not only diversified, but, in fact, even dispersed according to interests, ideas, agendas, it needs maximum flexibility to respond to ever more diverse challenges. It is very difficult to maintain unity, only with the help of heavy artillery in a figurative, but unfortunately literal sense.
Russia and China, in fact, have equal status – the enemy and the main threat to the world posed by the G7
What should those against whom, in fact, the consolidation is taking place do in this regard? On the contrary, that is to achieve maximum diversity, multidirectional development, insisting on the right not to make a final and irrevocable choice. The “good” – “bad” dichotomy is understandable and morally appealing, but in most cases it has nothing to do with the real international process. And attempts by the G7 to lure India, Brazil and others into its orbit solely on this basis will not be successful.
It is important that it also works the other way around. Russia, for example, does not need to rely on the support of “our truth” from what we have now begun to call the world majority. The term itself is correct, as the non-Western world does indeed make up the vast majority of the world’s population. However, it is a bit confusing, because it gives the impression that this majority is consolidated. But its essence lies precisely in the fact that it is diverse and not uniform. And it will always strive to find flexible forms of partnership and multidirectionality, coverage, not universal subordination. Older readers will remember that the charter of the Komsomol and the CPSU fixed the principle of democratic centralism: the majority decided – and that’s it, that’s democracy. Now it’s the “seven” principle. And we don’t need it.
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