Un-Diplomatic

Un-Diplomatic

Share this post

Un-Diplomatic
Un-Diplomatic
What’s At Stake in the Multipolarity Debate?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

What’s At Stake in the Multipolarity Debate?

The title of this piece is a paean to Dan Nexon and Tom Wright’s classic piece, “What’s At Stake in the American Empire Debate?”

Un-Diplomatic
May 25, 2023
∙ Paid
2

Share this post

Un-Diplomatic
Un-Diplomatic
What’s At Stake in the Multipolarity Debate?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Multipolarity may well be the watchword of 2023.

The two scholars who mounted perhaps the strongest arguments conceptualizing and advocating for unipolarity decades ago are back at it. This time, they have a provocative essay in Foreign Affairs insisting that the world is not multipolar because it never stopped being…unipolar!

I disagree with that on a number of levels (more below), but it was sufficiently controversial that Foreign Affairs ran an “experts poll” on the question of whether the world is still unipolar (that is, one superpower as opposed to two or more “great powers”). The answers were diverse yet skewed decidedly toward judging the world as being not unipolar. See here:

So while multipolarity appears to be at the front of everyone’s minds, that doesn’t mean everyone agrees about 1) what it is, 2) whether and how it matters, or 3) whether it correctly describes the world today.

Let me explain.

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Van Jackson
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More