Era of great power bargains over, world now multipolar: EAM Jaishankar
Says multiple centres of power will shape future global politics
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said the global order was irreversibly moving towards multipolarity, asserting that the era when a few powerful nations could strike sweeping geopolitical deals determining the fate of the rest of the world was over.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said major powers might still enter into limited, issue-based arrangements, but the structure of global politics had fundamentally changed.
“Multipolarity is here to stay… there is not going to be some big deal between powers and the rest of the world has to put up with it. That era is over,” he said, adding that the rise of multiple centres of power did not necessarily undermine multilateral cooperation.
He emphasised that multipolarity and multilateralism could coexist, noting that the success of global institutions should not depend on weakening the multipolar structure of the international system.
Highlighting the role of the Global South, Jaishankar said shared historical experiences had fostered a sense of solidarity among developing nations. Referring to India’s vaccine outreach during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said New Delhi had demonstrated its commitment to fellow developing countries even while managing its own vaccination programme.
“When Covid happened, the fact that India was willing to send vaccines to countries of the Global South showed that the Global South is for real,” he said, adding that evolving geopolitical dynamics were also producing new distinctions within what was traditionally seen as the Global West.
Reflecting on global political transformations since the end of the World War II and the Cold War, Jaishankar said attempts to preserve the international order established in 1945 or even 1989 indefinitely were unrealistic.
He argued that rapid technological advances and demographic shifts would be among the defining forces shaping global politics in the coming decade. As power spreads across different regions and domains, he said, no single country today enjoys absolute dominance across all sectors.
“The power in its different dimensions has spread out much more,” Jaishankar said, underlining that the future international system would increasingly be defined by multiple influential actors rather than a single hegemonic power.
