The US is being challenged by new world actors such as China. As a result, the US is more present and invest more in new territories. Additionally, the UK is facing the aftermath of Brexit on its own territory. What are the consequences of these changes?
IA conflictual order
1 US-China, the two superpowers
Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a cut-throat competition between US and China. The two powers jockey for influence beyond their shores, on land, in outer space and even in cyberspace. A “new cold war” has appeared.
The New Silk Road also known as Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the brainchild that Chinese President Xi Jinping had in 2013, is an economic development that aims at connecting multiple countries around the world. Needless to say that the USA is willing to counter this initiative.
This tension has been revealed by the change of the economic and commercial epicenter of the world. It is clear now that the Pacific Ocean stir the desires of the USA and China but also regional powers such as Australia, India and Japan.
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The Pacific Ocean is one of the first trade sea routes in the world, not mentioning submarine communications networks and interdependences between countries.
2 Policing the seas
The US, Canada and Russia fixate on the Arctic Ocean. As coastal nations, they have already sovereign rights over the seafloor close to their own shores. The melting away of Arctic Sea ice is exposing more land and sea, ripe for potential exploration of resources (overfishing and illegal fishing). It is also making way to new trading routes.
Policing the sea against trafficking of goods and piracy has become a tough challenge. Maritime crime affects many different countries and requires a comprehensible response. It is the case in Singapore (2nd container port in the world) in the strait of Malacca.
IINew frontiers of rivalries
1 Competition in Europe
Since Brexit, the UK has stopped taking part in Common Fisheries Policies (CFP) between European member states. Tensions have then appeared between the British and French governments over fishing permits but also migration across the English Channel.
Furthermore, in recent years, the dispute between the UK and Spain about Gibraltar’s sovereignty has taken the form of a clash over fishing rights.
2 Irish border at stake
When the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973, Dublin was over-dependent on Britain, and there can be no doubt that Ireland’s agricultural industry has benefited greatly from the Common Agricultural Policy. The economic and cultural mutation of Ireland has enabled the island not to depend on the UK only.
The British-Irish border is a thorny issue in Europe. The withdrawal of the UK from the EU made Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border an external EU border. After Brexit, a special clause was signed to preserve the Irish border in its pre-Brexit state, with the aim of not compromising the peace agreement signed in 1998. The clause led to protests from Unionists in Northern Ireland.
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The Unionists or Loyalists want to maintain British affiliation, while the Republicans want the merging of the two Irelands into a single state.
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Divided border, united people
In 1921, the Republic of Ireland gained independence from the UK. But Ulster, located in Northern Ireland and mainly protestant, remained British, which sparked a conflict.
“The Troubles” occurred between the late 1960s and 1998. They opposed the Republicans and the Loyalists or Unionists. The peace agreement signed in 1998, named the Good Friday Agreement, ended violence and was signed by the UK, Ireland and most political parties in Northern Ireland.
➞ Learn more about Northern Ireland’s conflict: hatier-clic.fr/2355070_15