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Preface

This book is the result of my experience. I have participated in a variety of policy discussions related to questions about the functioning of the international system and global development over the past two decades. In these discussions, I was engaged as the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs (2000–2005), then as President of Slovenia (2007–2012), and most recently (since 2012) as scholar. Significantly, all these discussions ended with a focus on China’s current and future role. China’s role has been growing exponentially over the years. In many ways, China has now become central to the development of the international system and of the world.

The policy discussions in which I participated took place in different parts of the world. I have visited China more than twenty times and met China’s political leaders, as well as diplomats, academics, students and others. I had the opportunity to engage in a variety of interesting discussions. In the last four years, I particularly enjoyed working with students in China in my role as Senior Visiting Fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University in Beijing. This experience also gave me an opportunity to speak to the Chinese media and to write commentary for various Chinese newspapers. Now I have selected my writings of the past years in which I have commented on the international system, China’s role, and international development.

These texts speak about the transformation characterizing our world today. They are organized around three major themes: the international system, China, and global development. I have selected my writings and organized them in a way that would serve two purposes. First, each of the twenty-five texts has a theme of its own, which is relevant to global transformation. Second, they should all shed light on the general picture of the world’s transformation. Admittedly, this approach carries a risk: it is not easy to ensure the necessary coherence and avoid unnecessary overlaps. Being aware of that risk, I selected the texts carefully and organized them in a manner that aims to maximize coherence and minimize unnecessary overlaps.

The reader should be able to see the “big picture” by reading the final chapter titled, “A World Transformed,” which is also the title of the book. However, in order to obtain a detailed presentation of the numerous questions discussed in the book, readers are advised to read individual chapters. Each of the book’s chapters, with the exception of the final one, contains a text prepared for its own occasion over the past years. I have edited them minimally, for example, by clarifying the year of several events mentioned in the text.

In preparing this book for publication, I was ably assisted by my friends from the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at the Renmin University in Beijing. I owe my gratitude to the Dean of the Institute, Dr. Wang Wen, the Deputy Dean, Mrs. Yang Chingqing, and Mr. Zhaoyu Guan who assisted me during my visits to China and helped with valuable information.

My special gratitude goes to Mrs. Božena Blix who provided valuable editing advice.

Danilo Türk

Ljubljana, 7 May 2019