«FISSURE OF THE WORLD SYSTEM»: GLOBAL SHIFTS AND HYBRID CHALLENGES

Problem setting. The first decades o f the XXI century demonstrate the unrestrained,
turbulent, even explosive development o f the world political process, which raised waves
o f “color” revolutions, began to distort the national sovereignty o f some countries, led to
a violation o f the international principle o f inviolability ofpostwar borders through military
conflicts and “hybrid” wars. It is no longer possible to deny that under modern conditions
there is not only a break in the bipolar and unipolar world order, but also a transition
to a multipolar world with several centers o f influence.
Recent research and publications analysis. Empirical approach plays important role
in the study o f the international systems. It correlates with geopolitical specificity and
mainly investigates contemporary interaction o f people and states, geopolitical strategies
and government tactics within certain geographical regions. Empirical research is characterized
by: the desire to specifically explain certain international situation (political,
economic, humanitarian), that developed in certain region o f the planet, specificity o f the
systemic connections between global actors; to highlight the level o f influence on behavior
o f the international subjects and decisions o f national elites offollowing factors: sociohumanitarian
and economic realities, national potential o f the states, cross-regional
competition, directions o f actions and juridical boundaries regarding interventions o f
international organizations etc. Serious destructive influence on the contemporary system
o f international relations is exerted by new wars o f the 21st century: wars with terror,
cyberwar, “hybrid” wars and so on.Paper objective. The purpose o f the article is to seek through systemic, phenomenological
and factor-geopolitical analysis to identify the nature o f the modern international
system and the nature o f real and hybrid “drivers” that stimulate its development and, at
the same time, turbulence and global shifts. Hence, the research tasks are as follows: according
to the ontological parameters to carry out the phenomenology o f the “international
system”; to systematize the typologies o f various international systems; to identifykey trends (challenges) o f shifts and destructions o f the current world order; to substantiate
the most significant factors o f global turbulence: macro-oscillations o f the world
system, “geopolitical shifts”, international terrorism, “hybrid” wars, humanitarian collapses
(pandemic coronavirus), etc.
Paper main body. Contemporary conceptualization o f the international systems, in
our opinion, demands more accurate phenomenological interpretation, since this is a
phenomenon o f a special type. First o f all, international system is a mega-phenomenon o f
the social type, which organizes the existence o f macro communities ofplanet in a special,
relational way. Secondly, international systems are supercomplex in their content and
structure, therefore they have to adapt to each other and to elements o f the whole environment
(this is characteristic o f the whole planetary system and o f its regional and sub-regional
subsystems). Thirdly, according to Phillippe Braillard, informal and poorly organized
nature o f the international systems is obvious, because it is not always possible to
delineate clearly and definitely between the complex that is being studied and its external
environment. Fourth o f all, international system has capacity o f open formation, which
explains the low level o f integration, even some divergence o f components inside o f the
wholeness.The international system o f modernity began to experience radically modern changes
under the influence o f the powerful “geopolitical landslides ” (factors o f influence),
which caused its turbulence andfurther transformation: 1) the completion o f the collapse
o f colonial empires and the emergence o f many post-colonial countries as independent
international actors on the political map o f the world, implementing their national-political
projects; 2) the global collapse o f the model o f the “bipolar world” - o f closed political
systems, which embodied two superpowers o f Soviet Union and the United States;
the end o f the “Cold War”; loss o f meaning o f the paradigm o f the “Third World” for
the underdeveloped countries; 3) entrance o f new sovereign states into the world arena
(after the collapse o f the USSR, Yugoslavia, etc.), which are modernizing and introducing
their new own geostrategies in international relations; 4) post-communist transformation
o f the countries o f Eastern and Central Europe, Asia and Africa fundamentally changed
the ideological balance and geopolitical design o f the planet. As a result, the strategic
shift o f the Baltic-Mediterranean arc into a new geopolitical trajectory took place - into
the Baltic-Black Sea arc, along the borders o f Russia with the Baltic States, Ukraine, and
Georgia; 5) the global economic jump o f Southeast Asia as a sub-regional system,
driven by the success o f the quasi-superpowers o f the region: Japan (economic strength
and investments), China (demographic and industrial capacities), South Korea, Singapore,
Hong Kong (technology); India (leader o f social democracy). According to Phillippe
Braillard and Mohammad-Reza Djalili, this results from the existence o f regional subsystems
- a set o f specific interactions based on general geographic affiliation;6) the
geopolitical “weight” o f the South Asian sub-region grows because o f the collapse o f the
North Korea’s “nuclear blackmail” militaristic strategy, thanks to the successes o f diplomacy
o f the US President Donald Trump; 7) paradoxically, but currently the politicaleconomic
competition between strategic partners - the USA and the European Union - isintensifying. At the same time, military-political tensions between the Russian Federation
and the United States and NATO, as global rivals in various geopolitical aspects - war
in Syria, sanctions against the Russian Federation because o f the annexation o f Crimea
and aggression in eastern Ukraine - are growing; global migration; Iranian, Iraqi and
Venezuelan issues, etc.Turbulent character and macro fluctuations o f transitional international system o f
“misbalance and mutual equilibriums”, additionally is determined by the competitive
coexistence o f states o f stable and transitional democracy, autocratic states (that can be
differentiated into traditional-conservative, military-totalitarian, authoritarian-modernized)
and specific quasi-states. This combination o f authoritarianism with liberal democracy
is problematic, and leaves impact on the global politics - temporary restorations o f
the post-communist governments, lack o f competent and responsible bureaucracy, corruption-
related scandals in the international structures, ignoring o f the demands o f the
global states in questions relating to survival o f humankind. The most important factors
in the destabilization o f the world system are wars, international terrorism and global
problems, in particular, the coronavirus pandemic.Conclusions. Contemporary international system is currently in a state o f transitional
from the unipolar world to the multipolar one, from the stability that prevailed after
the collapse o f the world socialist system to the qualitatively new international system with
several fulcrums. But this process is very complex and prolonged; it will be constantly
influenced by the new “geopolitical shifts”, as factors contributing to global turbulence
and macro fluctuations o f the transitional international system: the final collapse o f the
colonial system; the destruction o f the model o f the “bipolar world” and the emergence
o f sovereign states that implement their own geostrategies on a world arena; problems o f
coexistence o f countries in stable and transitional democracy, autocracies and specific
quasi-states; strategic shift o f the Baltic-Black Sea arc to the borders o f Russia with the
Baltics, Ukraine, Georgia; the global economic jump o f Southeast Asia as
a sub-regional system; increase in economic competition o f strategic partners - the
USA and the European Union; an increase in military-political tension between the Russian
Federation and the US with NATO, and so on.