Europe and the international system

Europe's role in the new international system is to a large extent unprecedented. Its position has changed since the Cold War years insofar as there are now no imminent threats to European territory and because its geostrategic reach has been greatly scaled back. Whilst the bipolar struggle between the superpowers commenced and came to an end in the old world, it is now clear that the centre of gravity of the global balance of power is shifting eastwards. After five centuries, beginning in 1500, during which the fulcrum of international politics was the Atlantic Ocean, in the 21st-century the Pacific and Indian Oceans are poised to acquire growing importance.