Metamorphoses of globalization: a geopolitical dimension

This article is devoted to the analysis of the most notable trends and processes, which during the recent years led to a kind of inversion of the purpose and functions of globalization. The special attention is paid to this theme in the context of the global financial and economic crisis. The author demonstrates that globalization started by industrialized countries of the West in their own interests, gradually created the conditions for the economic and technological breakthrough of the so-called developing countries (China, India, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa, united in the organization of the BRICS). And China has taken a key position in the world economy and became the second economic power in the modern world.