CIRSD

Past energy shocks have always reshaped the world that followed them, and Henning Gloystein, Managing Director for Energy & Resources at Eurasia Group, argues this one will be no different—only larger. From Tokyo’s nuclear restarts to Berlin’s miscalculation on gas, from India’s coal dilemma to the UK’s return to the North Sea, every major economy is now confronting decisions it had hoped to defer. The knee-jerk responses will fade. The deeper restructuring, he warns, will not.

Climate change does not pause for geopolitics, and the physical laws governing the atmosphere recognize no electoral cycles. Zhang Chuanwei, Founder and Chairman of Ming Yang Smart Energy Group, argues that energy security and energy transition are not rival priorities but mutually reinforcing ones, and that the renewable revolution has crossed from policy aspiration to commercial logic. Drawing on Ming Yang’s evolution into one of the world’s 3 largest wind turbine manufacturers, he sets out a vision of smart energy whose reach now extends across the planet.

Three forces are now colliding to remake the world economy at its foundations: a globalization redrawn around the “Global Majority,” technologies that turn platforms into planners, and a demographic squeeze that breaks the post-war growth model. Maxim Oreshkin maps a new paradigm in which connector countries become strategic actors, algorithms quietly displace markets, and “fiscal cannibalism” forces aging societies to choose between the elderly and the future. The lasting question, he argues, is whether human beings remain independent decision-makers, or become managed participants in systems they no
longer see.

In an era of trade wars and snapping supply chains, the UAE’s foreign trade minister argues that influence is no longer about size or dominance. It’s about the capacity to connect. With 35 Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements, $110 billion invested in Africa since 2019, and non-oil trade that just crossed $1 trillion, H.E. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi makes the case that the country wedged between Asia, Africa, and Europe has built a model the fractured global economy badly needs: partnership over positioning, connectivity over control.

Most governments are still digitizing forms. Kazakhstan is building something different: a “Delivering State” that anticipates citizens’ needs before they ask, runs on a sovereign supercomputer with 512 NVIDIA H200 GPUs, speaks Kazakh through its own large language model, and uses multi-agent AI systems as fiscal watchdogs and policy stress-testers.

Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, joined by two of Kazakhstan’s senior architects of the project Kanysh Tuleushin and Zhaslan Madiyev, argue that for mid-sized states caught between U.S. and Chinese tech blocs, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI—it is whether to design the architecture, or be designed by someone else’s.

U saradnji sa FEFA fakultetom organizovali smo predavanje profesora Zhang Weija, direktora Instituta za Kinu pri Univerzitetu Fudan u Šangaju.

Razgovor na temu „Kineski model razvoja i budućnost globalnog poretka” okupio je veliki broj studenata, ekonomskih stručnjaka i predstavnika akademske zajednice.

Posebnu pažnju izazvala je teza profesora Zhanga o Kini kao „civilizacijskoj državi”, koja je otvorila široku i dinamičnu raspravu o razvojnim modelima, međunarodnim odnosima i mestu Kine u savremenom svetu.

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In cooperation with FEFA Faculty, we organized a lecture by Professor Zhang Weiwei, Director of the China Institute at Fudan University in Shanghai.

The discussion, titled “China’s Development Model and the Future of the Global Order,” brought together a large number of students, economic experts, and members of the academic community.

Professor Zhang’s thesis on China as a “civilizational state” drew particular attention, opening a broad and dynamic discussion on development models, international relations, and China’s place in the contemporary world.

China’s role in the Middle East is often described in the West as “loudly silent”—but is that really the case? 🇨🇳

In his latest analysis, Stefan Jovanović argues that Beijing’s approach is not about absence, but about strategic patience. Rather than chasing headlines, China is shaping a long-term framework built on sovereignty, stability, and development—offering a different vision of global order in an increasingly multipolar world.

From Xi Jinping’s four-point proposal to deeper ties with the Gulf, this perspective challenges dominant Western narratives and highlights a shift in how global power is exercised.

Read the full text on cirsd.org

China’s role in the Middle East is often described in the West as “loudly silent”— but is that really the case? 🇨🇳

In his latest analysis, Stefan Jovanović argues that Beijing’s approach is not about absence, but about strategic patience. Rather than chasing headlines, China is shaping a long-term framework built on sovereignty, stability, and development—offering a different vision of global order in an increasingly multipolar world.

From Xi Jinping’s four-point proposal to deeper ties with the Gulf, this perspective challenges dominant Western narratives and highlights a shift in how global power is exercised.

Read the full text on cirsd.org

What does the future of the global order look like from China’s perspective?

Professor Zhang Wei, Director of the China Institute at Fudan University in Shanghai, will, through a lecture and discussion with the audience, open up key questions of the contemporary world: the balance of power, development models, and China’s role in global affairs.

The lecture is open to all interested participants.

You can find registration details for the event on the FEFA Faculty website.

Time: April 27, 2026, at 5:00 PM
Location: FEFA Faculty, Karađorđeva 65

Horizons Promotion in Washington, DC

On April 15, the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) organized a high-level roundtable and moderated discussion at the International Student House in Washington, DC, marking the promotion of the latest Horizons issue on multipolarity and offering a preview of the Spring 2026 edition.

The gathering brought together policymakers, think tank experts, representatives of the World Bank and IMF, and members of the diplomatic community. Held under Chatham House Rules, the discussion featured an exchange on key global trends and the evolving dynamics of an increasingly multipolar world.

Europe’s Vision For The Future

An engaging discussion on Europe’s challenges, opportunities, and its role in shaping the world ahead.
Featuring distinguished speakers:

• Vuk Jeremić — President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development, Professor of Practice at the Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs, former president of the 67th UN General Assembly and former Foreign Minister of Serbia.

• Pierre Vimont — French diplomat, served as Ambassador to the United States, Chief of Staff at the French Foreign Ministry, and Executive Secretary-General of the European External Action Service.

• Endy Zemenides — Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council. Mr. Zemenides serves as a Senior Advisor to the campaign of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Room: Lerner 569, Columbia University
Time: 17:15 - 19:00
Date: Wednesday, April 15th