Abstract:
A gradual power shift in the world economy has been taking place with its wider implications for the conduct of great power relations. In this paper, it is intended first to address the roots of this transition in the wake of the rise and fall of neoliberal globalization as the underlying dynamic of this phenomenon. Its central assumption is that the US-oriented process of globalization has led to an unintended result in the sense that it has paved the way for both the end of the post-Cold War order and the rise of Eastern powers like China and India while the Western dominance gradually disappears in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 global crisis. Secondly, it focuses on the geopolitical consequences of this crisis that has tipped the power balance toward the East and signified a new era of global power distribution. The critical question here is whether the rise of Asia is a challenge or it can be contained by accommodative policies which may lead to the peaceful formation of a new world order. The paper concludes that the West is threatened by the growing might of aspiring Eastern powers, but they are not without inherent troubles and vulnerabilities in many respects.
