In the aftermath of the 1929 Great Depression and the World War II, the current global order and its institutions have been dominated by the two sides of the Atlantic. Therefore, the world economy has been shaped by the developed countries via these so-called “international” institutions. For instance, the United States having 16.7 percent voting right in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gained the veto power over possible changes as major changes in the IMF’s main frame require 85 percent of votes. Besides, the IMF and the World Bank have been chaired by either European or American presidents since their establishment and this is the cause of a negative look with regard to unfair representation in the global system.
However, the 2008 global economic crisis in the developed countries became a breaking-point for the world economy and the global system. It is seen that developing countries have eliminated the negative impacts of the 2008 global economic crisis shortly and displayed a more stable outlook compared to the developed countries. Owing to this stable outlook, the developing countries minimized the negative effects of external shocks stemming from the global economic breakdown. The increase in the developing countries’ share in the world production and the decrease in the developed countries’ economic growth rate created new actors of the economy. According to the IMF and the Financial Times, there were seven developed countries (the US, South Korea, Japan, Canada, Britain, Germany and Italy) and three developing countries (Brazil, India and China) among the top ten countries with the highest economic growth rate in the 1980s. The order, however, totally reversed after 2012. That is to say, there were seven developing countries (Brazil, India, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Russia and Mexico) and three developed countries (the US, South Korea and Japan) in the top ten world economies. On the other hand, according to the Goldman Sachs data, the gross domestic product of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will leave behind the GDP of the seven big industrialized countries (the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada) after 2030. Of course, if some other countries such as South Africa, Mexico and Turkey participate in the BRIC group, this span of time will be shorter.
THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE ARAB SPRING
The developed countries are concerned about the Arab Spring breaking out in the Middle East and about the trade opportunities coming along with it in favor of Turkey and other developing countries. After the change of balances, the expansion of foreign trade axis, partnerships in trade among Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and China and mutual economic interests were disadvantageous to the developed countries. Besides, the shift of production and new markets to the East, i.e. to the developing countries, has made the developing countries more advantageous.
It is seen that slackening economic growth in the developed countries due to the global economic crisis started to create for them experiences similar to the 1929 Great Depression period, and they are trying to go back to their old economic conditions. The US exit strategy from the crisis, which is to have the Federal Reserve (FED) possibly implement the contractionary monetary policy, is almost perceived as a threat against the emerging developing countries because the said policy recalls the capital back from the developing countries to the developed countries. In addition, chaos and the coups against democracy in the Middle East have caused the developed countries to remain indifferent to the situation. This is seen as an indicator of content felt by the developed countries in relation to the regional instability.
For this reason, it is forecasted that the 21st century will transform into a more global century led by Asia although the 19th century was the European century and the 20th century was the American century. This tr
