InteRussia fellows meet Vladimir Milovidov

2023-11-09 12:23 International Relations

On 8 November, the Fund hosted a meeting between the participants of a new round of fellowship programme for foreign specialists and Vladimir Milovidov, PhD in Economics, Acting Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Primakov IMEMO of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The topic was New World Order. Challenges and Prospects of Global Political and Economic Transformation.

At the beginning of his speech, the scholar showed the interrelation of four components of social development: economy, behaviour of economic agents, ideas and values, as well as institutions. According to him, there is a constantly reproduced stable relationship between them.

Three models of transformation are possible as a result: progressive development from a lower level to a higher one, static state and decline or reduction of the level of social development. The expert added that the process of evolution includes a constant interstate competition, so the development is uneven, which makes fragmentation a natural course of events:

"The economic and financial scales are now tipping steadily in favour of Asia. This natural process, which we have been observing over the past decades, is the result of a long-term economic transformation."

When it came to the contradictions of the existing world order, the expert noted that the main problem lay in the the abuse by developed countries of their dominance, violation of the order of things established by themselves, and provocation of disintegration. They claim an exclusive right and ability to set the rules. He continued with an idea that the interests of the rest of the world is becoming an important question today:

"It would be fair to establish equitable development, free trade and economic cooperation, rather than restrictions and sanctions. At the same time, there should be mechanisms for dispute resolution, as well as respect for the interests of countries to protect national businesses and achieve their economic and technological sovereignty. Environmental issues should also be in focus, but not at the expense of development and economic growth."

The expert believes that sanctions, which have become a mechanism of pressure on competitors used by the US and its allies, are of particular concern. By imposing restrictions, countries unfriendly to Russia are trying to exclude Russia from the established network of global economic relations. According to the speaker, these measures are, however, inefficient:

"Russia is pursuing a policy of countering sanctions and building appropriate foreign economic relations. Today we are witnessing a process of forming new unions and alliances based on qualitatively new principles of cooperation and respect for the interests of all members, rather than domination of some over the others: the SCO, BRICS+, and OPEC+. The new alliances lead to the solution of the problem of creating an alternative currency system."

Vladimir Milovidov noted that the image of the future represents a broad and beneficial network of evenly and steadily developing partners, and the threat of exclusion from it is not a tool of its dominant members to suppress and force other participants to follow the interests of others rather than their own. The speaker pointed out that the rules of such a network are determined through an equitable and inclusive mechanism, become international laws, and are not changed at the whim of whoever.

InteRussia fellowship programmes are a unique opportunity to get to know the Russian agenda first-hand, attend lectures and workshops organised by leading media agencies, take part in partner events in the field of public diplomacy, and exchange experience with colleagues from different countries.

The topic of the current programme is called New Global Challenges and Threats. It is organised by the Gorchakov Fund and MGIMO Institute for International Studies with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo. It is attended by 11 researchers from Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Cambodia, Cuba, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Mongolia, and Serbia.