“New Normal” in International Relations: Perceptions and Assessments

Abstract. “The War of the Worlds” of Herbert Wells documented the decline of Victorian England, the struggle between the old and the new. This battle in history culminated in the formation of a new system of relations and the emergence of new global players on the world stage. We propose to reflect on the complex process of forming a new “norm” from the perspective of global historical and political events. The discussion indicated a different vision of the terminological applicability of the “new normality”. It is postulated that there is no generally accepted understanding of what is considered the “new normal” even in the field of international relations. In the discussion participants assess world events (revolutions, the economic crisis-2008, COVID-2019, etc.) and consider them through the prism of the formation of a new “norm” in the interaction of states and societies. And if for some of them the crisis of 2008 has already formed a “new normality” in international relations, for other researchers the historical period after the world economic crisis is only a preliminary stage. Some discussants focused on the hypothesis that the “new normal” is a constructed reality. Each “‘normality”’ is noted as one more social construct; there are always various interested actors seeking to maintain or change “normality” for economic, political and ideological reasons.

Keywords: new normal, crisis, post-crisis, international relations, 2008 crisis, new global actors.