Game changer of the global security architecture

Prof. emer. dr Józef Antoni Haber
Hon. Prof. m, dr h.c. m

Life is full of unexpected situations, but there is a necessity to assess the past and current activities for understanding what is going on. Over 50 years of academic and active life within international policy tend me toward some remarks on the role of interests within international relations. Of course, these remarks are my personal responsibility, but the intention is to open a discussion on complicated security architecture.

This day is still in my memory. July 29, 1971. Geneva, Palais des Nations, European Headquarters of the United Nations. I was waiting in a queue to show security my first card confirming my right to enter Room 107. At 10.30 am, the 525th meeting of the Conference of Disarmament Committee started. Meetings are without the press, and the mass media have to wait for a briefing or a short announcement. Great, global policy behind the door. In fact, since 1966, Geneva has been the site of world diplomacy focused on topics such as disarmament, human rights, humanitarian aid, and many specialized agencies of the United Nations system. Years ago, the United Nations, as a universal organization, not only had real and great respect. In addition, we all still have been convinced that the words of the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations “We the Peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security etc.” (UN, 1968), have been driving force in the process of building international security. It did not mean that we had no wars on Earth because at that time, the war in Vietnam with all its cruel consequences was continuing. However, the global bipolar system was more readable as East–West. My presence in Room 107 soon convinced me that the Soviet Union and the United States of America are the main actors in every field of world diplomacy. What is more, I could soon outline some main features of international relations at that time that remain valid as general principles for global activity: dynamism, rivalry, and uncertainty. Today, I do not change my conviction, but the world has changed a lot. The contradictions are not based mainly on the balance of nuclear capability. There is no longer the threat of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact as the latter no longer exists. The global security architecture is multipolar, and this is the question of the interests of different actors on the global stage. Some of them entered into the nuclear weapons club independently of signing the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or ignoring it altogether.

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