Introduction It could hardly be denied that the state of international relations and political economy is subject to continuous changes. In the past several decades, there were numerous events that influenced the development of this area of concern. In general, one can state that the overall global order, which could also be described as the balance of political and economic powers in the world, evolves considerably (Narlikar 561). Currently, there are numerous trends that determine the development of the international political economy, simultaneously being the results of the certain actions of different countries’ governments (Belfrage & Gammon 223). In particular, multilateralism is arguably the most important trend among the variety of other ones. Nevertheless, it is argued that other factors and trends also have an immensely significant impact on the global political economy (Neville 22). Moreover, it is appropriate to observe that various powers influence each other reciprocally, thus creating the overall foundation for the development of the international political economy. These observations contribute to the introductory description of the context in which this paper will be developed. Evidently enough, it is of high importance to profoundly understand the interrelated and complicated nature of the contemporary processes related to politics and the economy. The overall globalization of international relations contributes to their differentiation and evolution to a vast extent. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to analyze and critically evaluate the current trends in the international political economy, referencing scholarly literature on the topic. The essay aims to answer the following questions: what perspectives on contemporary international relations in the context of economy and politics appear to be the most important, and could future trends be projected on the basis of the analysis of the current situation? Multilateralism as the Major Trend in the Contemporary International Political Economy The Changing Nature of the World’s Global Order First of all, it is essential to observe the notion of multilateralism in order to put further reasoning in the proper context. The term “multilateralism” was coined at the beginning of the 1990s. In its most general and widely accepted sense, it refers to the approach to international governance that is characterized by the collective effort of countries towards the mutual goal. The emergence of this concept could be explained primarily by the fact that the bilateral approach that dominated the global politics and economy during the period of the Cold War. However, since then the trend for the emergence of new political and economic powers in the world continued to evidently shape the balance of global powers. In the article written by Vezirgiannidou, the effects of this trend are profoundly discussed. The main idea that is promoted by the author is that currently, the world is experiencing the post-hegemonic phase, which is primarily indicated by the decrease in the influence of the United States on the global politics and economy. The author mentions the governance of President Obama as an example of multilateralism, as the president understood the importance of new rising power (Vez