Special issue
Re-imagining alliances and alignments in a new era of great power competition
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19224113 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica Trisko Darden (0000-0003-4460-5071, Virginia Commonwealth University, corresponding author), Joshua Shifrinson (0000-0003-1085-5021, University of Maryland, College Park) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-19 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1384-5748 • E-ISSN: 1740-3898 |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41311-026-00776-3 |
| OpenAlex | W7161637767 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
The first decades of the twenty-first century have seen existing alliances stress-tested and new alignments between great powers and other states emerge. We have entered a new and complex period of geopolitics, but with arguments and evidence informed by a particular, and perhaps singular, period of geopolitics. Accordingly, the collection of articles in this special issue revisit core issues of alliance politics in order to advance scholarly and policy debates. Embracing a global—as opposed to distinctly Western or interstate—perspective, special attention is given to (1) the causes of and variation within the growing number of informal alignments between states, (2) regional alliance dynamics, and (3) hidden corners of alliance politics, whereby alliances are often harder to identify and more challenging to study than researchers might expect. The collection of articles raises questions as to how we define and measure core concepts used in the alliance literature as well as the factors shaping alliance choices across time and issue areas. As a result, the articles identify a range of new avenues of research on alliance politics that can foster greater theoretical and empirical rigor and inform future research agendas
Alliance · Comparative politics · Development studies · Great power · Politics · Cross-Border Cooperation and Integration · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Peacebuilding and International Security
After Victory
On the Verge of an Alliance
Balancing acts
Alliances with Chinese characteristics? The contents and rationale of China’s strategic partnerships
The swing states dilemma in US alliance politics
Nato after the invasion of Ukraine
Dark corners of alliance politics
A ‘Reverse Kissinger’? Why Trump’s Anti-China Rapprochement with Russia Is Likely to Fail
Overlapping Institutions in the Realm of International Security
Chain gangs and passed bucks
Chinese Perspectives on Alliance and Alignment
The end of liberal international order
| Highly cited | No |
|---|