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The answer to the question posed in the title, seen from the per-spectives and trends of how things stand in the last quarter of 2007, would seem to be "yes." The great dream of the early 1990s, when President George Bush Senior proclaimed that a "new world order" was about to dawn, has now become a nightmare. It is true that the global economy is booming, like never before, with growth occurring in all continents, coupled with low inflation. And yet, the geopolitical picture – which obviously influences trade – is bleak. While the Middle East has long been a cauldron, it has reached an unprecedented state of frenetic ebullition. Much of global instability and tensions can be ascribed to the disastrous policies of the current American administration since 2001. In the 1990s, the U.S. appeared as a benign hegemon, com-bining seemingly formidable 'hard power' – military, geopolitical and economic might – with unparalleled 'soft power' – the arts, academe, the media, lifestyle, etc. Today, with the humiliating failure in Iraq, the U.S.' hard power appears inept and impotent; the economy is in a state of uncontrolled disarray, while on soft power, the U.S.' prestige in the world has plummeted to depths not seen for decades. The weakness of the U.S. results in the aggravation of prob-lems and indeed turning what should be opportunities into threats. International Institute for Management Development (IMD) based in Lausanne, Switzerland; he is also an advisor to the WTO Director General. The most evident example is China. Thus, while China's massive entry into the global economic arena since the 1980s should be heralded on all counts as a tremendous positive boost, America's economic disarray and weakness of leadership are in grave danger of transforming this great opportunity into a conflict. Generally speaking, while much of the responsibility must, per force, lie with the global hegemon, the U.S., the global "mood" is generally unhealthy. Between the great powers, the U.S., Russia, the EU, China, India, Brazil and Japan, there is an acute absence of trust. American weakness, geopolitical volatilities, the spirit of mistrust, and lack of political will also explain why the global trade agenda is at a paralytic standstill. In fact, the current round of the WTO, the so-called Doha Development Agenda, is effectively dead – certainly brain dead – though trade negotiators, for reasons of their own, like to pretend otherwise. This in turn both causes and reflects the growing obsolescence and irrelevance of the international economic institutions. Without a solid global governance framework and the collective commitment of the major trading powers to solidify the framework and adhere to its rules and principles, and with the global economy bound to dip, free trade will undoubtedly erode and protectionism, in various guises, reappear. The outlook is not good.