The thesis of the formation of a new world order is widespread in both Russian and foreign political discourse, but it needs to be substantiated. The rejection of the ‘old' world order also requires clarification: what exactly is unacceptable and what should be radically restructured. Since the end of the WWI, the original time marker of the existing world order, the question of its renewal has come up five or six times. Today, as always, it is important to assess the changes in the balance of power on the world stage. They affect (i) the main actors, their roles, activities, algorithms of behaviour; (ii) the tools at their disposal that can be used to interact with the international environment; (iii) new coalition rapprochements and new cleavages in the international arena; (iv) new global and regional balances (regarding military, economic, resource, scientific, technical and other potentials). The question is whether this results in the accumulation of a new quality by the international system, which requires its radical renewal, or whether the system is able to absorb changing realities, adapting to them and improving the existing algorithms of its own functioning. The time factor can work not only to accelerate new trends, but also to promote the inertia of the existing ones. In some areas (globalization, the role of multilateral institutions, arms control) the resources possessed by the existing international system by no means seem to be exhausted. Finally, the abstractly formulated idea of the need for a new world order does not clarify some problems of an existential nature: (i) the hierarchy of the international system and the consequences of its ‘softening,' (ii) the unequal availability of various elements of stability/power (technology, information, resources, financial instruments, human capital, movement of people, social stability, etc.) for different states and societies, (iii) the correlation of internal problems and relations with the outside world, (iv) the phenomenon of sovereign particularism. As topics for further discussion, briefly formulated criteria for sustainability, effectiveness, maturity and adaptive capabilities of the world order are proposed.