Przegląd sytuacji międzynarodowej – aspekty globalne i regionalne

With Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, the crisis of liberal democracy seemed to have reached its climax. The new American President has probably been the most emblematic face of the rise of populism in the Western world over the last few years. In a number of Western countries, the populist wave has brought to the forefront of the political scene politicians willing to build typical authoritarian regimes on the “ruins of democracy”. In other regions of the world, the present problems of the West have been a proof to many that democracy does not work. Among the victims of this new tendency are human rights and multilateral institutions. Within the Euroatlantic zone it is Russia which is seen as the winner in its game against the West. Moscow has efficiently modified the famous motto of British diplomacy “if you cannot beat them, join them” into “if you cannot beat them, elect for them a president who suits you”. This humiliation of the West by Putin (also in Syria) has helped, however, better to recognize the danger of Russian subversive cyberactivity and made it rather impossible for Russia to repeat the same strategy in the context of important elections of 2017 in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Defeating nationalistic populism there would help the whole European Union to deal with both the impact of Brexit and with other challenges, including further reforms of the Union.