Adapting to a Multipolar World

Getting the answer to this question right is important for the obvious reason that policymakers need to recognize and understand the reality of the international order as it exists today.

Is the world multipolar? There is considerable evidence that it is, but there continues to be a remarkable amount of resistance to accepting this conclusion. Last month, Paul Poast laid out the case that multipolarity is already here:

All of these examples point to both the fact that the global order is already multipolar and why that matters. Far from being an academic abstraction, it captures the reality of anyone operating in the international system, be they world leaders, diplomats or the heads of multinational corporations.

Getting the answer to this question right is important for the obvious reason that policymakers need to recognize and understand the reality of the international order as it exists today. It is also important for U.S. policymakers in deciding what the appropriate strategy should be. As Van Jackson explained in his discussion of the stakes of the debate over multipolarity, pursuing a strategy of primacy can’t work if the world is no longer unipolar.