Centre for European Reform – The new geopolitics: Annual report 2020

The CER’s annual report features an essay on 12 geopolitical trends that are reshaping Europe. The report also describes some highlights of the CER’s work on Brexit, economics and foreign policy.

 
A few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Tony Blair gave one of the most powerful speeches of his career to the Labour Party’s annual conference. “The kaleidoscope has been shaken, the pieces are in flux, soon they will settle again,” he said. “Before they do, let us reorder this world around us.” That shake of the kaleidoscope led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with profound geopolitical consequences. The kaleidoscope was further shaken by the financial crisis of 2008-10. Now the global order is once again being stirred, as a consequence of four years of President Donald Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This double whammy – like the earlier shake-ups – is strengthening an increasingly self-confident China but creating profound problems for the US and Europe. The liberal democratic values they espouse, and their leading role in international institutions, are being challenged. Can the arrival of Joe Biden as US president, and renewed momentum for European integration, restore the self-confidence of the Western democracies? This essay looks at 12 geopolitical trends that will matter for Europe.

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Πηγή: cer.eu