By: Omar Silva – Editor/Publisher

National Perspective Belize I Digital 2026

www.nationalperspectivebz.com

Belize City: Friday 24th January 2026

For over three decades following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world existed under what was effectively a unipolar order — a system dominated politically, militarily, economically, and ideologically by the United States and its Western allies. Institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, NATO, and even the United Nations increasingly reflected the priorities of that power bloc. Smaller nations like Belize were expected to comply, align, and adjust.

That era is now ending.

Where We Have Been

The unipolar era promised stability, free trade, democracy promotion, and global cooperation. In practice, it produced:

• Selective respect for international law
• Economic dependency for developing nations
• Regime-change interventions disguised as “democracy promotion”
• Structural adjustment policies that weakened national sovereignty
• A global media narrative dominated by Western interests

Belize, like much of the Global South, became policy-dependent rather than policy-sovereign.

Where We Are Now

We are living through a historic global transition. Power is no longer centralized.

Today’s emerging multipolar world includes:

• China as a technological and economic superpower
• Russia as a strategic and military counterweight
• BRICS expanding into an alternative economic bloc
• Regional coalitions strengthening in Africa, Latin America, and Asia
• Middle powers asserting independent diplomacy

This shift has exposed fractures within the Western alliance system itself.

The erratic and confrontational posture of U.S. President Donald Trump toward both traditional allies and non-allies alike has accelerated global uncertainty. Public disputes with NATO partners, trade hostilities with Europe and Asia, open pressure on weaker states, and unilateral foreign policy decisions have weakened the credibility of U.S. leadership.

The result is a world where trust in U.S. consistency has eroded, even among its closest allies.

Where We Are Heading

The future will not be governed by one superpower. It will be:

• Competitive
• Fragmented
• Regionally aligned
• Diplomatically complex
• Strategically dangerous for small states without clear national vision

For Belize, this moment presents both risk and opportunity.

The risk: continuing to operate with a colonial political mindset, behaving as though alignment with one external power guarantees safety.

The opportunity: positioning Belize as a sovereign, independent-thinking nation capable of engaging multiple global partners based on national interest — not obedience.

The Belizean Question

In a multipolar world, the central question becomes:

Does Belize have an independent foreign policy — or merely inherited loyalty?

True sovereignty now requires:

• Strategic neutrality
• Diversified partnerships
• Economic self-reliance
• Protection of national data and identity
• Political leadership grounded in dignity and independence

This global shift is not academic. It will shape trade, security, technology, migration, diplomacy, and development. Countries that fail to adapt will be used as pawns. Countries that think clearly will emerge stronger.

Belize must decide which it intends to be.