The lost global balance: recent publications on geopolitical change

Abstract

The latest books on geopolitics, although written from slightly different perspectives, have one idea in common. Their starting point is the obvious geostrategic shift from the Atlantic to the Asian hemisphere. What does this dramatic power shift from West to East bear for European states? China's rise to hegemonial status is without any doubt the greatest political and economic challenge of our times. It implies a completely new global order, including the redefinition of Western (i.e. American and European) interests, power and limitations. Western Europe and Northern America have lost their claim to be, on a global scale, the most influential socio-economic and cultural formation. Today, Asia represents roughly 75 percent of the human population, worldwide.