Editorial: How Much 1973 is in 2023? 50 Years of Discontinuities and Continuities

Abstract

The crises in the global structure are increasing. Different developments are combining to form a dynamic that reinforces the contemporary diagnostic impression of a coming rupture: the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the most recent escalation of the Middle East conflict, the intensification of competition between the USA and China, record inflation and discussions about a phase of deglobalisation, signs of crisis in liberal democracies and the increase in the importance of authoritarian statehood, and last but not least, the dramatic escalation of the ecological crisis. The orientation of the world economy and the geopolitical order associated with it, which has been enforced since 1973 with the end of the Bretton Woods system, seem to have begun to falter. Are we in a phase of upheaval today, similar to 1973? How much of 1973 is in our present? Which of the fundamental changes since 1973 need to be understood in order to be able to manage future conflicts?