Emerging World / Developed World: Toward a Multipolar Global Order

In the Western world since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a consensus emerged around the favorability of liberal democracy, market capitalism and free global trade under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, oiled by the liquidity of the U.S. dollar. The emerging world opened to global markets and established orthodox political and financial institutions, and the developed world accepted changes to its own economies in return for access to new, fast-growing markets and cheaper goods and credit.

That consensus has come under strain for a number of reasons. China will soon emerge as the world’s largest economy and is increasingly a competitor against as well as a complement to the developed world’s economic and political interests. The emerging world in general is likely to leverage its demographic advantages to become the major growth engine for the world economy.