‘The era of a western dominated world is over’: Finnish President Alexander Stubb

Addressing the Raisina Dialogue 2026 in India, Finnish President Alexander Stubb delivered a pragmatic assessment of the shifting global landscape. He offered a blunt evaluation of modern geopolitics, stating definitively that “the era of a western dominated world is over.”

President Stubb argued that while the old order is being challenged by a return to power politics, it is a mistake to view the current disruption as a total collapse. He noted that “violence has once again become a go-to foreign policy tool,” yet he maintained that broken rules do not render the entire rules-based world order null and void.

Rejecting the “illusion of a utopian order,” the President urged leaders to deal with the world as it is rather than through the lens of nostalgia. He concluded that the international community must focus on how to best “contain power in an imperfect world” to prevent a complete breakdown of global stability.

These remarks come during a period of increased volatility. Since the start of the year the international community has witnessed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border descend into ‘open war’, the US capture of Nicolás Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela and a major escalation in the Middle East following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

This instability extends to Africa, where peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo have faltered following renewed M23 offensives and subsequent US sanctions on the Rwandan Defence Force. In Sudan, the civil war has entered a brutal third year, with the SAF and RSF locked in a conflict widely seen as the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, a military-backed landslide victory for the USDP in Myanmar has cemented authoritarian rule, and high-stakes Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Abu Dhabi remain stalled due to regional missile threats.

These developments represent only a snapshot of the broader geopolitical turbulence currently shaping international affairs, with multiple regional crises, power rivalries, and diplomatic confrontations unfolding simultaneously across the global system.

ℹ️ DRM News