Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the polarity of the world and its sporadic changeability, the variableness of this geopolitical phenomenon being utterly unpredictable. The number of classic models of the world’s polarity is limited to three – unipolar, bipolar and multipolar. One of the most popular neo-realists, the famed American scholar of political science, Professor John Mearsheimer, would often comment on the polaristic character of our contemporary world, emphasizing that the postwar bipolar world, even though it was afflicted with the cold-war perils and misgivings, was still more balanced than the after-perestroika monopolar world led by the United States of America in its boring unilateral solitude, taken for granted by Mankind in the last thirty-odd years. But, as mutable as the modern world seems to be, its polarity is currently going through a new metamorphosis, precipitously headed for multipolarity, with America, China and Russia residing at the top.
This said, any model of the world’s polarity can be said to be natural and acceptable enough for Mankind not to have to worry too much about the quantity of its geopolitical pinnacles and their influence over our fates. Sitting somewhere in the world, in some pretty, exotic spot, in a cozy little catering outlet, one might be totally nonchalant of anything that is going on around the globe, so I wonder if Sakartvelo has to be worried about anything that might potentially bother the unsuspecting Georgians who, as we speak, are happily attending their compulsory schools, hopefully growing into good and healthy grownups of their beloved motherland.
Yet, the generally accepted cogent assumption is that anything that’s happening in today’s world concerns Georgia too. I only wonder if Georgia really needs to be worried whether the world is mono, bi or multi polar. Any self-confident political scientist would probably say in the most assured fashion that the character of polarity of the planet has a direct effect on us, and they might be right, but not many of them would be very clear about the specificity of their notion.
Imagine the world was still bipolar, as it used to be until those roaring 90s. How would that alter the way of life in this country? In no way, presumably! Our vital interests would probably continue to be the same, affordably manipulating between the two poles. When the world became monopolar, Georgia tried to singularize its foreign vector, giving an impetus to the dream of becoming a member of the western military block which never came true, and goodness knows if it will ever come to fruition. Now that the world is intensively getting ready to morph into a long awaited multipolar modus vivendi and operandi, Georgia is not changing much in terms of its geopolitical aspirations, economic potential or cultural ways, remaining a little Eurasian sovereign nation with moderately demonstrated features of an international player and slightly improved chances of making some progress on its way to a stronger image and better life.
To trivially conclude, it’s not exactly our national headache to worry much about the world’s polarity, because Georgia can easily adapt its modest self to any model of polarity if it finds optimal ways to reasonably coexist with the rest of the world, so that wolves are fed and sheep are kept safe too, at all possible times. Some might object to this somewhat lighthearted assumption, using a witty deduction like ‘you can’t have the cake and eat it too’ but the hard and sweated-for national practice of the last 35 years corroborates the former postulation that our most optimal path is to carefully watch the way the world is developing, and to gingerly tap every possible opportunity for development, and to do our business as independently as possible from the ongoing confusing and scary interplay of the famous biggies of the world, who will never desist from the idea that the world is theirs alone, and that the entire stock of whip and carrot belongs only in their hands to handle its distribution so that, again, the entire pack of wolves is fed and the flock of sheep is safe.
Op-Ed by Nugzar B. Ruhadze
