Ian Bremmer and David Gordon, of the Eurasia Group, do not sugar-coat the shape of the new world order emerging in the 21st century. They starkly note:
They dub this international order "G-zero," due to a "lack of international leadership at the heart of so many emerging political and economic challenges." Surveying the same geopolitical landscape, Reuters' political risk correspondent Peter Apps sums it up as "an increasingly rudderless world of growing international tension."
Defense budget trends in the developed world confirm this analysis. Analysts are still forecasting "declines in European home-market defense budgets," especially in terms of European capabilities to project power further afield. In turn, voices in the U.S., such as former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb, are asking "why we still have 150,000 troops stationed in Europe and Asia, 65 years after the end of World War II, especially when our European allies are slashing their defense budgets to deal with their deficits?"