Unipolar Politics

Nations around the world are "bandwagoning" with the United States, while trying to maintain some independence of action in case America becomes isolationist. Meanwhile the U.S. is being pulled in different directions by its own economic and security requirements, leading to policy contradictions that must be resolved if the "unipolar" moment is to endure.

Unipolar Politics brings together prominent scholars in international relations to analyze the decisions that major powers have made since the Cold War to adapt to a rapidly changing economic and security environment. The book points to powerful evidence that nations around the world are "bandwagoning" with the United States in most respects, while still trying to maintain some independence of action in the event that America becomes isolationist, antagonistic, or simply uninterested in a particular regional crisis. Meanwhile the United States is being pulled in different directions by its own economic and security requirements, leading to policy contradictions that must be resolved if the "unipolar" moment is to endure. The authors acknowledge that, while great power wars are now unlikely, positional conflicts over resources and markets still remain, and may even be strengthening.