‘No country holds overall hegemony today, world becoming multipolar’, says EAM Jaishankar at Raisina Dialogue

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the global expectation of maintaining a fixed world order from the mid-20th century was ‘unrealistic’ and that power has now significantly ‘spread out’ across various dimensions.

The Minister reflected on the evolving nature of global governance over the last seven decades while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2026 – the flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs

"When we look back at these 70 years, I think the expectation that we can freeze a 1945 or a 1989 forever was a very unrealistic one. In fact, look back at the 70 years. These 70 years, we debate, how did we do, why didn't it last, 70 years is 1% of Indian history. Why would 1% of Indian history last? Life moves on," Jaishankar said at the conference inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on 5 March

Jaishankar argued that the international community's focus on historical frameworks failed to recognise the emerging drivers of global transformation.

"I think this attachment to the past did not take into account the forces that were propelling the change. If there are going to be two big changes in this decade, one will be technology, but the other will be demographic," he said.

Addressing the shifting global power dynamics, Jaishankar said that while much of the current geopolitical analysis remains focused on the United States, the world is moving toward a more fragmented distribution of influence.

"A lot of the analysis is obviously centred around the changes in America. My sense is you're going to have a future which will really be much more multipolar because no country today has hegemony over so many domains that it is an overall hegemon," the Minister remarked.

Jaishankar further explained that modern power is no longer defined solely by traditional metrics of wealth or military might, but by specialised regional strengths.

"It's not just a distribution of GDP and capabilities. I think, across different domains and parts of the world, some will contribute more or have greater capabilities. So the power in its different dimensions has spread out much more," Jaishankar added.

The theme of the 2026 edition is "Saṁskāra – Assertion, Accommodation, Advancement”. Around 2700 participants from 110 countries will join the Dialogue in person, and the proceedings will be viewed by millions worldwide on various digital platforms, the MEA said in a press statement.

(With ANI inputs)