George Herbert Walker Bush, when he was president of the United States, used to talk a lot about a "new world order" emerging after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Seventeen years later, that new order is still not in place as the countries that dominated the old order refuse to make way for change.
This is most evident at the United Nations, which has accepted in principle the need for reform, especially of the Security Council. However, despite years of debate and proposals, there is no meaningful change in sight. The five permanent members — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China — each with the right of veto, don't appear too eager to let other countries, such as Japan and Germany, share their lofty heights.
The old order is also very much in evidence in such supposedly global institutions as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with the former always headed by an American and the latter by a European. Although emerging Asian countries, in particular China and India, are increasingly important as economic players, their nationals need not apply for either of the two top jobs.