Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on 31 August–1 September 2026, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated that a multipolar world order would strengthen multilateralism and promote justice, and emphasized the importance of regionalization.[i] Several inferences can be drawn from Guterres’s remarks: the existing international system remains trapped in the geopolitical conditions of 1945, and the reform of regional institutions is of great importance for the construction of a multipolar order. The strengthening of multilateralism can be achieved only through the proliferation of institutional regionalism and the redesign of existing structures in line with the requirements of the age, namely contemporary geopolitical conditions.
While the United States (US) and the Soviet Union stood out as hegemonic actors in the post-1945 order, the systemic rise of the European Union began to be witnessed after 1993, and that of China from 2013 onward. In particular, the Eurasian Cooperation Action Plan concluded between Türkiye and Russia on 16 November 2001 has served as a cornerstone in the construction of a multipolar world and a post-hegemonic order. This plan represents a critical turning point in the post–Cold War reconstruction of the East–West balance and the concept of regional ownership. At the same time, it reflects the will of regional actors within the Eurasian geography to shape their own security and economic dynamics independently of external interventions.
The first quarter of the 21st century has witnessed a relative erosion of American hegemony in military, economic, and normative terms alike. China’s production-driven economic power and Russia’s military-geopolitical maneuvers have constrained Washington’s capacity to make unilateral decisions. The authority vacuum that emerged in this process has led non-Western developing actors, the Global South, to demand a greater voice in international politics. The Global South is no longer a passive geography; it has become an active bloc that promotes institutional regionalization by drawing on the alternative platforms offered by Eurasian actors such as Russia and China. Non-Western developing countries, with the backing of major Eurasian powers such as Russia and China, are taking significant steps toward institutional regionalization.
Having made considerable progress toward breaking their dependence on Western-based institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, strengthening multilateralism, and building a post-hegemonic order, Global South countries are seeking, through organizations such as the SCO and BRICS, to reinforce non-dollar trade, financing in local currencies, and broader cooperation. The interest shown by developing countries in platforms such as the SCO and BRICS stems from a perceived “injustice” in the existing global financial and security architecture. Institutional regionalization, therefore, offers not so much an alternative to the existing global system as a model of “new multilateralism” that allows the system to function in a more balanced and equitable manner. This model can be summarized as an approach whereby actors within a given geography, typically states or sub-national units, conduct their cooperation through formal agreements, shared rules, norms, and permanent institutional structures.
Very significant developments capable of contributing to institutional regionalism in Eurasia have taken place recently. In this context, at the end of July, 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, announced the establishment of a multinational Maritime Defense Coalition. The aim of this initiative, from which Western powers, Russia, China, and Iran are absent, is to enable regional actors, through the sharing of power among themselves, to secure the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden on their own. This step clearly demonstrates the region’s will to reduce dependence on external actors for maritime security and to attain strategic autonomy.
Immediately following this development, the Mecca Agreement, signed between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan at the beginning of August, constituted a historic turning point that brought together the critical geopolitical and military capacities of the Islamic world along a single strategic axis. This consolidation in the field of security and diplomacy has signaled the emergence, in the southern belt of Eurasia, of a new center of power that is integrated with the global system yet independent of hegemonic centers.
Concurrently with this process, an integration along the South Caucasus–Caspian–Central Asia axis has not gone unnoticed. Reinforced by the Uzbekistan–Kyrgyzstan Treaty on Allied Relations, the Azerbaijan–Uzbekistan Treaty of Eternal Friendship, and the SCO Bishkek Summit, this trend may also be termed “Caspian Integration” or “Eurasian Solidarity.” Taken together, these developments, ranging from maritime security cooperation in the Middle East to bilateral and multilateral alliance architectures in Central Asia, demonstrate that, in the construction of a post-hegemonic order in global politics, regional actors have now become not merely passive observers but primary rule-makers.
This new wave of regionalism, freed from the tutelage of external powers, is an indicator of the will of Eurasian actors to determine their own security, logistical, and political destinies. In conclusion, this multilayered architecture of cooperation, uniting the two shores of the Caspian, stands today, as the unipolar global system dissolves, as the strongest harbinger of a new, post-hegemonic world order grounded in local dynamics.
[i] “UN Secretary-General Calls for Reform of Global Governance at SCO Summit.”, Vietnam VN, https://www.vietnam.vn/en/tong-thu-ky-lhq-keu-goi-doi-moi-quan-tri-toan-cau-tai-hoi-nghi-thuong-dinh-sco, (Accessed: 05.09.2026).
