Power shifts and regional
security
Posted Saturday 4 December, 21:06 Bahrain time
By Dr Bastian Giegerich,Senior Fellow for European Security
The geo-economic and geo-strategic
centre of gravity is shifting eastwards towards Asia, ushering in an era of
economic and political multipolarity, according to Sh Muhammad Al Sabah Al
Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kuwait.
Discussions at the Manama Dialogue confirmed the impression that global power
shifts are outpacing multilateral capacity to address the resulting challenges,
namely greater complexity and deeper uncertainty regarding security problems. Sh
Muhammad argued that four global changes were driving the emerging international
framework: first, the rise of new middle powers with global interests. Second,
threat perceptions now encompass environmental dangers, disease and terrorism,
and are far more diffuse than in the days of nuclear stand-off. Third,
governments can no longer control the international agenda and will have to
accommodate new movers and shakers, such as non-governmental organizations and
social networks. Fourth, global demographic dynamics are likely to make a
mockery of efforts to create an equilibrium between resources and populations,
possibly setting up a collision between the declining ‘North’ and the rising
‘South’.
One of the consequences pointed out by
Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd, is an urgent need to
strengthen the links between existing regional security establishments,
including in Asia-Pacific and the Gulf. Both regions have somewhat rudimentary
multilateral security institutions making confidence building with in the
regions and between them a core task and one to which the Manama Dialogue
contributes, Rudd said.
