International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity

International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity PDF Author: G. John Ikenberry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113950164X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The end of the Cold War and subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in a new unipolar international system that presented fresh challenges to international relations theory. Since the Enlightenment, scholars have speculated that patterns of cooperation and conflict might be systematically related to the manner in which power is distributed among states. Most of what we know about this relationship, however, is based on European experiences between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, when five or more powerful states dominated international relations, and the latter twentieth century, when two superpowers did so. Building on a highly successful special issue of the leading journal World Politics, this book seeks to determine whether what we think we know about power and patterns of state behaviour applies to the current 'unipolar' setting and, if not, how core theoretical propositions about interstate interactions need to be revised.

International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity

International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity PDF Author: G. John Ikenberry
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113950164X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The end of the Cold War and subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in a new unipolar international system that presented fresh challenges to international relations theory. Since the Enlightenment, scholars have speculated that patterns of cooperation and conflict might be systematically related to the manner in which power is distributed among states. Most of what we know about this relationship, however, is based on European experiences between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries, when five or more powerful states dominated international relations, and the latter twentieth century, when two superpowers did so. Building on a highly successful special issue of the leading journal World Politics, this book seeks to determine whether what we think we know about power and patterns of state behaviour applies to the current 'unipolar' setting and, if not, how core theoretical propositions about interstate interactions need to be revised.

International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity

International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity PDF Author: Gilford John Ikenberry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : International relations
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description


International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity

International Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity PDF Author: G. John Ikenberry
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781107222335
Category : Balance of power
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
Discusses the concept of unipolarity and the political implications of US primacy for the patterns of international politics.

Theory of Unipolar Politics

Theory of Unipolar Politics PDF Author: Nuno P. Monteiro
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139952811
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States has enjoyed unparalleled military power. The international system is therefore unipolar. A quarter of a century later, however, we still possess no theory of unipolarity. Theory of Unipolar Politics provides one. Dr Nuno P. Monteiro answers three of the most important questions about the workings of a unipolar world. Is it durable? Is it peaceful? What is the best grand strategy a unipolar power such as the contemporary United States can implement? In our nuclear world, the power preponderance of the United States is potentially durable but likely to produce frequent conflict. Furthermore, in order to maintain its power preponderance, the United States must remain militarily engaged in the world and accommodate the economic growth of its major competitors, namely, China. This strategy, however, will lead Washington to wage war frequently. In sum, military power preponderance brings significant benefits but is not an unalloyed good.

Unipolarity and World Politics

Unipolarity and World Politics PDF Author: Birthe Hansen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136835393
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
This new book offers a coherent model of a unipolar world order. Unipolarity is usually described either as a ‘brief moment’ or as something historically insignificant. However, we have already seen nearly twenty years of virtual unipolarity and this period has been of great significance for world politics. Two issues have been crucial since the end of the Cold War: How to theorize the distinctiveness and exceptional character of a unipolar international system? And what is it like to conduct state business in a unipolar world? Until now, a comprehensive model for unipolarity has been lacking. This volume provides a theoretical framework for analysis of the current world order and identifies the patterns of outcomes and systematic variations to be expected. Terrorism and attempts by small states to achieve a nuclear capability are not new phenomena or exclusive to the current world order, but in the case of unipolarity these have become attached to the fear of marginalization and the struggle against a powerful centre without the possibility of allying with an alternative superpower. Supplying a coherent theoretical model for unipolarity, which can provide explanations of trends and patterns in the turbulent post-Cold War era, this book will be of interest to students of IR theory, international security and foreign policy.

Polarity in International Relations

Polarity in International Relations PDF Author: Nina Græger
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031055055
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
This book brings together a group of leading scholars on international relations to develop and apply the concept of polarity on past and present international relations and discuss its applicability and usefulness in the future. Despite a comprehensive debate on a global power shift, often discussed in terms of the decline of the United States, the crisis in the liberal international order, and the rise of China, IR ́s main concept of power, ‘polarity’, remains undertheorized and understudied. The great powers and their importance for dynamics and processes in the international system are central to current debates on international order, but these debates too often suffer from a combination of politicized empirical analysis and reliance on old theoretical debates and conceptualizations, typically originating in the Cold War security environment. In order to meet these challenges, this book updates, conceptualizes, applies and critically debates the concepts of unipolarity, bipolarity, multipolarity and non-polarity in order to understand the current world order.

The Unipolar World

The Unipolar World PDF Author: T. Mowle
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230603076
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This is the first book-length treatment of international politics in a unipolar world that adopts a structural realist perspective. It applies Waltz's microeconomic analogy to a market with a price leader. It concludes that unipolarity is sustainable as long as the unipole distributes rewards to other states.

Polarity, Balance of Power and International Relations Theory

Polarity, Balance of Power and International Relations Theory PDF Author: Goedele De Keersmaeker
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319426524
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book discusses the rise of polarity as a key concept in International Relations Theory. Since the end of the Cold War, until at least the end of 2010, there has been a wide consensus shared by American academics, political commentators and policy makers: the world was unipolar and would remain so for some time. By contrast, outside the US, a multipolar interpretation prevailed. This volume explores this contradiction and questions the Neorealist claim that polarity is the central structuring element of the international system. Here, the author analyses different historic eras through a polarity lens, compares the way polarity is used in the French and US public discourses, and through careful examination, reaches the conclusion that polarity terminology as a theoretical concept is highly influenced by the Cold War context in which it emerged. This volume is an important resource for students and researchers with a critical approach to Neorealism, and to those interested in the defining shifts the world went through during the last twenty five years.

Balancing Unipolarity

Balancing Unipolarity PDF Author: Milosz Marek Kucharski
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781124907468
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This project explores great power interactions in a unipolar world. Specifically, it tries to explain what causes powerful states such as China, Russia, or France to undertake anti-American soft balancing. Existing theories that aim to account for states' behavior are largely inadequate to answer this question as they were formed in a pre-unipolar world that was characterized by completely different constraints. As such, this dissertation checks their robustness and offers a new theoretical contribution by challenging the dominant theory of international relations. This work seeks to contribute to three different literatures. First, it adds to the literature on soft balancing by exploring its causes in a systematic and scientific manner. In doing so, it makes an important contribution to the study of soft balancing, the causes of which have been under-researched and under-theorized. Second, this research contributes to the literature on unipolarity and its consequences by addressing the question of whether great power interactions are driven by structural realist forces or by forces that do not stem from the systemic characteristics of the international arena. Finally, I address one of the pivotal issues in the current theoretical debate, namely, the issue of whether the pursuit of material self-interest provides us with an adequate explanation of states' behavior. I demonstrate that international relations scholars may need to revise some of the bedrock concepts of the dominant school of international relations theory. That is, the empirical chapters of this dissertation cast doubt on realist arguments that anti-American soft balancing is rooted exclusively in the pursuit of self-interest or in states' inherent tendencies to offset power disparities. At the same time, my findings go against the widely accepted argument that there is an increased occurrence of soft balancing against Washington when the United States acts unilaterally in foreign policy. In contrast to these views, I demonstrate that interest violation and unilateralism, both individually and together, are weak predictors of soft balancing. Instead, my analysis suggests that soft balancing is reactive. It is most likely to occur when other states' interests are violated by the United States and when American intentions are perceived as predatory. Thus, I argue that hybrid theories, such as the theory advanced in my dissertation, which blend realist notions with ideational approaches, may be better suited to explain soft balancing in international relations.

The Balance of Power in International Relations

The Balance of Power in International Relations PDF Author: Richard Little
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521697606
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
The balance of power has been a central concept in the theory and practice of international relations for the past five hundred years. It has also played a key role in some of the most important attempts to develop a theory of international politics in the contemporary study of international relations. In this 2007 book, Richard Little establishes a framework that treats the balance of power as a metaphor, a myth and a model. He then uses this framework to reassess four major texts that use the balance of power to promote a theoretical understanding of international relations: Hans J. Morgenthau's Politics Among Nations (1948), Hedley Bull's The Anarchical Society (1977), Kenneth N. Waltz's Theory of International Politics (1979) and John J. Mearsheimer's The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001). These reassessments allow the author to develop a more comprehensive model of the balance of power.