Transforming geopolitics: the future of American unipolarity
Authored by Cheng Wei (professor of international relations at Liaoning University) and a team of researchers, The Contest between America’s Vision of a Unipolar World and the Global Push for Multipolarization was recently released by the Commercial Press. The work is distinguished for the originality and contemporaneousness of its perspective and its use of history to offer insight into the future of American foreign policy.
According to the contributors’ analysis, the global geopolitical order is currently in a crucial era of development, reform and adjustment. In the two decades since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, international affairs have been dominated by the tension between America’s projection of unipolarity versus the global trend toward a multipolar world.
Noting the unavoidable interconnectedness in international relations, the authors point to the inseparability of Russian domestic politics and economics, and then again to the mutual influence between Russian foreign policy and American foreign policy. The authors argue that American global strategy is a pivotal factor influencing countries currently undergoing transformation (including Russia and China).
While the existent literature tends to link U.S. unipolarity with national strength, Cheng et al. conclude that the U.S.’s vision of itself leading a unipolar globe is unrelated to and precedes its national strength, instead locating this vision’s origin in the country’s foundation and popular national identity rather than elite political agendas. Looking forward, they suggest the U.S. will maintain its strategy of unipolarity for the foreseeable future, even if significant adjustments are made to domestic and foreign policy in the face of national or international setbacks. As such, the tension between American unipolarity and global multipolarity will continue to define the post-crisis era.
The book also provides a novel perspective in its analysis of Russo-American and power relations.
Ni Shixiong is from the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.
The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 404, Jan 14.