📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On October 10 at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host a presentation of the report “The World Majority and Its Interests”.

One of the most significant phenomena in modern international life was the formation in 2022 of a large group of states, known in Russian foreign policy rhetoric as “the world majority”. These countries refused to participate in anti-Russian restrictive measures and, on the contrary, maintained, and even expanded trade and investment relations with Moscow.

The group is heterogeneous and includes states of different sizes, which are located on all continents (except Australia) and are not members of the same political associations.

Nevertheless, the report authors consider the behaviour of the world majority in relation to the current conflict in Europe not an accidental or private phenomenon, but a significant factor in the development of the historical process. The emergence of this group is not associated exclusively with Russia — it is a product of evolution of the system of international relations. However, it was the confrontation around Ukraine that became the catalyst for its formation.

❓Is a unified policy possible towards the unconsolidated group of countries of the world majority?
❓Can the “world majority” become a universal concept and enter into wide international usage?
❓What qualities are characteristic of the participants? And how can their role on the world stage change?

The authors of the report and the discussion participants will try to answer these and other questions.

🎙️ Speakers:

🇷🇺 Lidiya Kulik, PhD in History; Head of India Studies, SKOLKOVO School of Management; Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

🇷🇺 Mayya Nikolskaya, Acting Director of the Center for African Studies at the Institute of International Studies of the MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia

🇪🇬 Nourhan ElSheikh, Professor of Political Science at Cairo University; Member of the Egyptian Council for International Affairs

Moderator:

🗣 Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-discuss-the-world-majority-and-its-interests/

Working languages: Russian, English.

Information for the media: In order to get accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our web site. If you have any questions about the event, please call +79269307763

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen. 

#WiderEurasia #WorldMajority #WorldOrder

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🎥 LIVE: at 12:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host a presentation of the report “The World Majority and Its Interests”.

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239208

#WiderEurasia #valdai_report #WorldMajority #WorldOrder

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🗣 On October 10, 2024, the Valdai Club hosted a presentation of the report “The World Majority and Its Interests”.

📷 Photo gallery

🎥 Video

#WiderEurasia #valdai_report #WorldMajority #WorldOrder

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🌐 Living by One's Own Wits: The World Majority in Search of Independent Decision-Making

On October 10, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted a presentation of the report “The World Majority and Its Interests.” 

💬 The moderator of the event, Timofey Bordachev, lead author and editor of the report, explained that this refers to the absolute majority of countries in the world that are not directly involved in either the military-political conflict between Russia and the West or the confrontation between China and the United States, and prefer not to take sides in these confrontations. How are the interests of countries in this group formed and evolving? What can we expect from them in the future and how will their behaviour affect the development of international politics and the global economy?

💬 Lidiya Kulik, PhD in History; Head of India Studies, SKOLKOVO School of Management; Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, called the study extremely timely. Having considered India as a typical example, she pointed out that, despite the diversity of the world majority, the distinctive feature of its countries is that, while they do not want to join any blocs, they demand maximum respect for their position. In each of these countries, there are objectively formed interest groups that are oriented toward different blocs and different sides of the confrontation. This creates a new phenomenon, a kind of “multi-alignment”.

💬 Nourhan ElSheikh, Professor of Political Science at Cairo University; Member of the Egyptian Council for International Affairs, believes that the increasing role of the world majority is one of the largest transformations in the world. She emphasised that the world majority is an established fact, the significance of which is growing. “This is a key phenomenon that is necessary for both the Global South and the entire world,” she said, adding that it probably makes sense to institutionalise it and create within its framework some tools for coordinating activities in international structures.

💬 Mayya Nikolskaya, Acting Director of the Centre for African Studies at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO University and co-author of the report, clarified that when speaking about the majority of countries in the world being outside of global confrontations, it should be clarified that this is only about non-alignment with one camp or another. They can very well serve as an arena for confrontation, and, for example, African countries are precisely the field in which the competition between the United States and China is most obvious. According to Nikolskaya, two trends are currently being observed among African countries: one aimed at reforming the existing global structure and one aimed at finding alternative options.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/living-by-one-s-own-wits/

#WiderEurasia #valdai_report #WorldMajority #WorldOrder

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🎥 LIVE: at 11:30 Moscow time (GMT+3) Session 1 of the 21st Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, titled “Conflict or Agreement? What Will Most Likely Resolve Differences in the Post-Globalization Era?,” starts. Watch the live broadcast:

🇬🇧 In English

🇷🇺 In Russian

#valdai2024 #WorldOrder

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1️⃣ Session 1 of the 21st Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club “Conflict or Agreement? What Will Most Likely Resolve Differences in the Post-Globalization Era?”

📷 Photo gallery

🎥 Video

#valdai2024 #WorldOrder

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📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On February 12 at 16:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference.

The results of the negotiations between the three Allied powers — Britain, the USSR, and the USA — still serve as the basis of the modern international order. It was at the Yalta Conference that the final decision was made to create the UN — the main institution of the world community. “Yalta” remains a symbol of the agreements that helped maintain a relatively stable peace.

In today’s conditions, a literal repetition of the experience of that conference is hardly possible: the world is too diverse, and the balance of power must take into account a significantly larger number of powers and different types of forces. However, the main principle of the conference — the recognition that a world based on a balance of interests is better than a chaotic war for their implementation — remains relevant in an era when the crisis of the world order is beyond doubt.

❓What was the significance of the Yalta Conference against the backdrop of the historical events of the first half of the 20th century?
❓How strong was the peace created in Yalta?
❓How has the advent of the atomic age affected it?
❓What can be used from the Yalta experience now, given the changes in the global balance of power and the dramatic experience of Europe after the Cold War?

The participants in the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.

🎙️ Speakers:

🇺🇸 Christian Whiton, Senior Fellow for Strategy and Trade at the Center for the National Interest (USA)

🇬🇧 Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent in Canterbury (UK)

🇪🇪 Rein Müllerson, President, Institut de Droit International in Geneva (2013–2015)

Moderator:

🗣 Timofei Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-discuss-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-yalta-conference/

Working languages: Russian, English.

ℹ️ Information for the media: In order to get accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our web site. If you have any questions about the event, please call +79269307763

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen.

#EurasiaFuture #history #WorldOrder

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⏰ TODAY at 16:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference.

❓What was the significance of the Yalta Conference against the backdrop of the historical events of the first half of the 20th century?
❓How strong was the peace created in Yalta?
❓How has the advent of the atomic age affected it?
❓What can be used from the Yalta experience now, given the changes in the global balance of power and the dramatic experience of Europe after the Cold War?

The participants in the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen.

#EurasiaFuture #history #WorldOrder

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🎥 LIVE: at 16:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference.

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239256

#EurasiaFuture #history #WorldOrder

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🗣 On February 12, 2025, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference.

📷 Photo gallery

🎥 Video

#EurasiaFuture #history #WorldOrder

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🌐 Is a 'New Yalta’ Possible?

On February 12, 2025, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference. 

💬 Timofei Bordachev, moderator of the discussion, called this topic extremely interesting both from a historical point of view and from the point of view of modern international politics. He emphasised that we are talking about the anniversary of the configuration of the world order based on the United Nations, in which we lived and, perhaps, continue to live to this day. He added that now many dream of a "new Yalta" based on an agreement between the most significant states, inviting the participants to discuss how possible it is.

💬 Rein Müllerson, President of the Institut de Droit International in Geneva (2013–2015), called the Yalta Conference, along with the Potsdam and Tehran Conferences, one of the stages in the creation of a "world concert" with the leading role of great powers. The institutions created in the course of this process have played a positive role and continue to do so, he believes, although the situation is complicated by the inability of major powers to negotiate with each other. In the 1990s, instead of international law, they began to talk about a “rules-based order” that neglected both the principle of the non-use of force and the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. The principle of sovereign equality also disappeared. This state of affairs in international relations looked anomalous and could not exist for long, Müllerson is convinced. The question is whether the revolutionary changes that can be observed now in the United States mark the end of an old era or the beginning of a new one?

💬 Donald Trump is not destroying the old and not creating something radically new, but simply returning the United States to the course from which it strayed in 1991, believes Christian Whiton, Senior Fellow for Strategy and Trade at the Center for the National Interest (USA). If we look at the Yalta Conference from the perspective of today, we must admit that, despite all the complaints about its results, it was ultimately a success – and this is important in the context of the Ukrainian conflict and the Russian-American summit currently being discussed, he said. Whiton expressed hope that, as a result, the parties may be able to look at things in a new way and find areas for cooperation.

💬 "1945 was a year of contradictions that have largely remained unresolved to this day," said Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent in Canterbury (UK). The most important of these is the issue of the pan-European order and security system. It seemed that it was eventually resolved at the end of the Cold War, but this was only an illusion – the Cold War continued with a cold peace that followed the same logic. However, one cannot constantly live on the brink of war: it is necessary to establish a peace based on other principles, principles of cooperation. Now there is often a talk about a “new Yalta”, but it is impossible without new thinking, Sakwa argued.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/is-a-new-yalta-possible/

#EurasiaFuture #history #WorldOrder

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