Conclusions 2023

The sharp downsizing of Russia caused by the war is not likely to interrupt the consolidation of a scenario defined by Richard Sakwa in this volume as “a highly uneven multipolarity accompanied by a broader ideological, even civilisational, contest between the political West and the nascent political East”. This is because the call for multipolarity comes from an increasingly large and powerful group of countries that demands more representation and sees their interests damaged by a world order configuration still largely prey to traditional Western global hegemony. Hence, as observed by Zachary Paikin in this volume, perhaps 2022 will be remembered as “the year when multipolarity definitively became a reality” – even in the event of a Russian military defeat.