The Second World War, and the ensuing decline of colonial powers, put an end to several decades of the domination of European colonial powers. In the aftermath of 1945, when none of the great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were European, many independent nations appeared on the international stage.

And since it won the victories in the Pacific Ocean and Europe, the United States was strong enough to provide the western world, which is still in control of the political and economic systems. The United States provided military protection and support for political cooperation and free trade, while the rest of the western world sought to conquer the forces of nationalism and protectionism.

International institutions

The United States has established international institutions, based on law. In Europe, this pluralistic framework has finally evolved into a European “Western” system of states, now transformed into the European Union system. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in Christmas 1991, the United States became the only superpower in the world, and immediately deployed its power in the world. The unipolar world period ended, after the irrational invasion of the United States in 2003, to Iraq, the country that the United States has been trying to get rid of for nearly a decade.

But the international system cannot remain in a vacuum, because other powers always advance to fill this vacuum. Thus the new power, China, which was quick to impose itself on the international scene, and Russia, which strengthened its military capability, did the same thing, which is the other major nuclear power in the world. The current world order is no longer defined by a force or two, nor is it based on pluralism, or on another framework designed to find a balance between competing interests with a view to containing, preventing, or resolving conflicts.

The election of US President Donald Trump marked the beginning of the United States' active abandonment of the world order that it essentially helped create. Under the Trump administration, the United States intentionally attempted to destroy the institutions it created in the aftermath of World War II, such as the Free Trade Organization, while explicitly raising strong questions about the importance of existing alliances, such as NATO. The stage of American peace during the Cold War had led to the return of a world in which individual countries would protect their national interests at the expense of others, that is, weak states. This sometimes requires economic and diplomatic pressure, as is the case with Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine, which necessitated the use of force.

A sea of ​​changes

Europe simply cannot avoid or ignore the effects of this great sea of ​​change. Although the European Union is strong in economic, technical, and commercial terms, it is not considered as such on its own. It lacks homogeneous political will and military capabilities that reinforce true geopolitical power, and many of its traditions are considered to be undisputable Muslims. . As an entity that transcends national borders and consists of 27 countries, it is considered a descendant of the pluralistic system that is now declining and declining.

This historic retreat from law-based multilateralism to the unstable order of competing superpowers contrasts with the current mix of escalating international challenges, not least of which is climate change. Preventing a catastrophic climate warming requires collective action by the international community formed by most nations, and not a global system based on competition between its nations.

leadership

Fortunately, the European Union is at the forefront in the fight against climate change, both in technical terms and in regulatory laws. Europe's mission now is to maintain and expand this leadership, not only for the planet, but also for its economic interests. After all, the American retreat at the present time forces Europe to become a power on its own, otherwise it will become dependent and merely an instrument in the hands of others.

In geopolitical terms, “Trumpism”, the escalation of China’s power, and the return of Russia have left the Europeans no choice but to pursue action to emerge as a superpower, and the current wave of technical innovations has reinforced the importance of this urgent truth. "Digitization", artificial intelligence, big data and possibly quantum computer technology will determine what the world will look like in the future, and who will lead it as well.

Digital revolution

In fact, the digital revolution is essentially political, not technical, and the freedom of individuals and societies as a whole is at stake, and political freedoms will become increasingly dependent, in the digital future, on which Western civilization is based, on the subject of data ownership. Will the European data be subject to companies in Silicon Valley, or will they be subject to sovereignty controlled by the Europeans themselves? For me, this question will be important for the creation of the European superpower in the years and decades to come.

Argument

The Europeans have long argued about constitutional issues, such as the desired level of integration or union, for European Union countries, but the timing of these discussions has ended, at least for the time being, as the current political transformations are being imposed on supporters of integration and government union alike . The challenge now is to transform Europe into a superpower, before being preceded by more technically sophisticated and geopolitical powers.

Responsibility to lead the world

Europe cannot afford to remain technically backward from others, or weak in terms of geopolitical power, because it bears the responsibility to lead the rest of the world on the issue of protecting climate from change, which requires technical and organizational innovations. In a world that is rapidly subject to the law of extreme competitiveness, Europe must be its greatest priority: to become a superpower.

Joschka Fischer: Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany

- Given that it achieved victories in the Pacific Ocean and Europe, the United States was strong enough to provide the western world, which is still in control of the political and economic systems.