Implications for Global and Regional Security

Implications For Global And Regional Security

Russian invasion of Ukraine has launched a conventional interstate war in Europe, the scale of which has surpassed that of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990-ies and made it the largest war on the continent since World War II.

Due to that fact alone, one might expect considerable impact of the war on international security at several levels. It has a potential to shift the global balance of power; it tests and undermines international institutions; it changes usual patterns of expectations among states, including those linked to the direct use of military force. It also shows the profile of a modern war by introducing new technologies and forms of warfare, and broadens our understanding of contemporary security, for instance, in cyber, environmental or commodities realms.

In addition, the war resonates with the crisis of international order. The West is once again united in an attempt to protect and restore a rule-based world. Revisionist states, first of all Russia, but not only, are aiming at changing the rules and rebuild the structure of the international system in a way that would provide them with more advantages and better perspectives. Outcomes of the war are to be felt for years to come and will shape the contours of regional security arrangements in Europe.