Megatrends of World Politics: Globalization, Integration and Democratization

Megatrends of World Politics identifies globalization, integration, and democratization as three key trends shaping the future of world politics and international relations, and demonstrates their effects in today’s global processes.

The authors of this book discuss the essence of these three megatrends of world politics, describing their dynamic and non-linear development, and exploring how they manifest themselves. Assessing megatrends of world politics makes it possible to predict further global political development. The authors proceed from several assumptions: (1) megatrends are global – they operate everywhere around the globe, although with different intensity and in diverse forms; (2) they influence and sometimes generate a variety of other trends in today’s world politics; and (3) megatrends are political. The three megatrends ― globalization, integration, and democratization ― are identified and justified based on these three parameters, then the authors analyze the influence and manifestation of megatrends in various spheres of world politics, including terrorism, transregionalism, communication technologies, migration, pandemics, and subnational regions.

This book will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers of international relations and adjacent fields who are studying the trajectories of global development, globalization, integration, and democratization.

Marina M. Lebedeva is Professor and Head of the World Politics Department in the Faculty of Governance and Politics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), Russia.

Denis A. Kuznetsov is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Governance and Politics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), Russia.