The article questions the thesis about the crisis and even the collapse of the existing world order, which has become an important element of the current international discourse. Challenges similar to the recent ones had also appeared in the past; nowadays it is expedient to analyse those that do create dangerous new tensions and whether they could be minimized and absorbed within the existing international order. The current views on the configuration of the latter tend to treat it within the spectrum extending from the lamentation on total chaos and up to the praise of polycentrism. Polycentric system has a volatile hierarchy being a subject of increasing competition in all spheres - economy, science and technology, culture and ideology, military and politics. However, there are no reasons to anticipate cardinal restructuring of the existing international institutional pattern (although eventual corrections therein are possible). The ongoing rebalancing of various existing centres operating in the international arena reflects their ability to influence other actors and the international system as such. The most serious changes (although with different vectors) concern China, the USA, the West as a whole, India, Russia, as well as a number of states on regional levels. Their international rating does not follow the same pattern once and forever - which creates a certain potential for instability but also provides the system with additional flexibility. Among the key dividing lines within the system are those between the USA and China, as well as between Russia and the West. The system's major intrigue appears in the centre-periphery relationship (in its broad interpretation). Of key importance will be challenges emerging at the crossroad of the international system and nation-state pattern (the involvement into domestic affairs, global problems, sovereign particularism). New emphases take place in the treatment of certain traditional themes - such as security, use of force, the status of borders and territories.
