Diplomats and IR Experts Discuss Prospect of a Second Cold War
On March 30, 2022, the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, a “Beyond the Headlines” (BtH) lecture on modern great power politics and the role of international organizations.
The discussion was led by Jorge Heine, Pardee School Research Professor, and featured Dr. David M. Malone, Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, as well as Min Ye, Pardee School Associate Professor of International Relations.
Malone opened by discussing the Ukraine-Russia conflict and how it has exacerbated other ongoing crises in the world, including climate change and economic inequality. He argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proven that the post-WWII structure of the United Nations (UN) Security Council is no longer relevant in today’s global environment. The international organization does serve as a geopolitical weather vane – forecasting support or opposition for global happenings – but Malone says the UN’s role is best served in mobilizing international resources to address humanitarian crises and post-conflict reconstruction.
On the prospect of a second Cold War, Malone claims that it is too early to predict whether the world is headed in that direction. If there is such a scenario, he says that it will stem from increasingly hostile relations between the United States and China. Ye countered by stating, from the Chinese perspective, a second Cold War began back in 2021. China has felt the U.S. jas exerted great military and economic pressures on the country through international economic decoupling and gains in Indo-China via recent security agreements in the region. While the current geopolitical atmosphere is not conducive to positive conversations, both Malone and Ye say that China would do well to avoid escalating to a Cold War level conflict if they want to be a global superpower and meet their global development aspirations.
The event concluded with a question and answer period, during which panelists fielded audience questions on UN Security Council expansion and reform, the effectiveness of the G20 and G7, the role of developing countries in a second Cold War, as well as the policy of active non-alignment.
Beyond the Headlines is a regular series at the Pardee School that seeks to cultivate informed conversations among experts and practitioners on issues that are currently in the news headlines, but to do so with a focus on intellectual analysis and on longer-range trends. Recent Beyond the Headlines discussions have focused on topics including vaccine diplomacy, civil-military relations, Brexit, International Women’s Day, and more.