First of all, we have to take into account that the world seems to be going better, maybe you will be surprise by this first conclusion as my lectures were rather pessimistic. But however there are many positive trends which is the evidence that the world is able to find solutions when meeting the difficulties and the problems that we observe. First of all, and this is probably the main positive element, the number of people who are victims of starvation is not increasing, is still below the billion of people while the global amount of the world population is growing. There is something like a mystery but, during all the 20th century, the number of people victim of starvation is stable when global number of the world population is growing. There is also a trend in communication, in world communication, global communication is more and more working, that’s to say people are more and more involved into global networks. People are more visible, and this increasing, growing capacity of communication is probably the main factor of democratization. Democracy is working, democracy is progressing. If you take into account for instance Latin America, all the countries in Latin America are now democracies, while 30 years ago they were still, for the major part, dictatorships. We have also a growing political mobilization of people, recently, we could observe this mobilization in Burkina Faso, but Arab spring is also showing that people don’t accept dictatorships, don’t accept to be under the rule of dictators. Arab spring is the evidence that people will mobilize for keeping, protecting their dignity, for resisting against humiliation. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, our new millennium is starting on good bases, but, however the problems are still so high, so important that there is a global threat on the world order, even if some aspects have improved. Those aspects of the international system, of the global order which are not working well are so important that we are still under a global and dangerous threat. First of all, the gap between poor and rich is growing, even if the poor are less poor than previously, the rich are richer more richer than previously, and this growing gap between rich and poor is probably the main challenge we have to meet in a communicating world, on a visible world, that’s to say, this gap is more visible now that it was previously. Keep in mind for instance that in average, a Qatari is two hundred times richer than a Centrafrican citizen, and I say in average, I don’t take into account the richest people in Qatar and the poorest people in Central African Republic We have also to take into account the fact that the millennium development goals adopted by the UN at the beginning of our century have not been reached. The main challenge was to divide by two the number of people victim of starvation, in 2015 the number of people victims of starvation should have been reduced to 500 million, we are very far from this goal. What about the future of young people in this world and especially of young Africans, who are more and more numerous but however who meet more and more difficulties for finding a job. What about these young people in ten or twenty years? Climate is in a very bad and dangerous condition, and when the climate change is worsening the global situation of people, we observe that this factor is triggering more and more wars : Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Somalia are clearly connected to these factors. And what is currently done for improving the situation? When we know that the political actors have no interest to invest by now in changing the situation as these investments will be productive only within twenty or thirty years, when other political actors will be in their position. And of course wars are lasting, we have very few wars, which have been recently overcome, peace has not progressed, neither in Africa nor in Middle East, that’s to say when we take into account for instance the Congo Republic war or the Afghanistan war, or Somalia war, none of them have been solved. And so we have to refocus, we have to recenter both analysis and action, IR must be reinvented, the international arena must be reshaped, and we have to work on a new approach to international relations. That is the real meaning of these lectures. How to approach international relations differently? How to reach new solutions? And these new solutions imply to define new patterns, to define new ways, to reinvent negotiations. That’s why for wrapping up this presentation I will try to define several axes, several ways for action but also for analysis. First of all, we have to consider that social issues in our present world are the major international issues. We are no more in a world of competing military forces, military powers, we are in a world, which is dominating, which is shaped by social contrasts, and we have to take into account that starvation, health conditions, environment are now the prior issues at stake. Second axis, these social issues don’t imply any more competition, but cooperation, and more than cooperation, solidarity. We go back to Emile Durkheim and his sociology. What he said about nations at the end of the 19th century, is now at stake for solving the problems of the world. Without this minimal redistribution, without this minimal social solidarity, there is no possible peace in the world. That was the message of UNDP when in 1994 it defined what Human security is. That implies, this is my third axis, to consider social treatment as the main way of peace building, that’s to say that military action, military forces are no more efficient for meeting and solving and containing the new kinds of international violence. Fourth axis: we have to rethink, to rebuild, to reinvent, multilateralism. We are now in a world in which all the issues are global, and it’s not possible to deal with global issues without a multilateral approach. It isn’t really grateful to imagine that the ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations is not working, when the major challenge is based on these social discrepancies that I described. Intervention will be efficient if it is perceived as multilateral, as coming from the global international community power intervention, intervention by great powers, is no more working and we have the evidence of these failures when considering Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, so only a global intervention, multilateral intervention is possible. The fifth point is to create a sense of alterity. Great powers used to consider themselves as the unique players, but this is no more true, this is no more correct. We are in a world in which new powers appear, these famous rising powers, emerging powers, but we are also in a world in which local actors are more and more important and must be associated to solving their own problems. That’s why we have to accept a world in which cultures are plural, in which points of view are diverse, in which the partners are not necessary coming from the same history. Building alterity is probably the main challenge, which is at stake. And that’s why, Ladies and Gentlemen, global studies must be more human, must be sociological, must be plural, must be transdisciplinary. But, first of all, global studies must be based on humanism, first because humanity is the center of the world, but also because ignoring humanity and its diversity is ignoring now currently probably the main factor of violence. I hope that you enjoyed these meetings, that you enjoyed this MOOC, and I hope to see you again soon.
