Abstract. The 2008–2009 global financial and economic crisis was a result of the global balance disturbance in world economy and international relations. The global leader – the U.S. has been weakened, but temporarily. As long as there is no serious alternative candidate, American domination will continue. In the foreseeable future, the world is likely to face plenty of economic upheavals and political conflicts linked to the development of new technologies, the asymmetry of demographic trends in various regions resulting in mass migration, climate change and environmental problems including scarcity of fresh water. One of the major new trends is globalization, and no single nation, however powerful, is capable of managing it.