Unipolarity, status competition, and great power war

Bibliographic Data

ID23170475
AuthorsWilliam C Wohlforth (Dartmouth College, corresponding author)
Year2011
Pages33-66
Publication date2011-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueInternational Relations Theory and the Consequences of Unipolarity (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511996337.002
OpenAlexW4246906061
ISBN9780511996337
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

Does unipolarity promote peace among major powers? Would the return of multipolarity increase the prospects for war? Although unipolarity has been marked by very low levels of militarized competition among major powers, many scholars doubt whether the association is causal. Mainstream theories of war long ago abandoned the notion of any simple relationship between polarity and war, positing that conflict emerges from a complex interaction between power and dissatisfaction with the status quo. “While parity defines the structural conditions where war is most likely,” one team of prominent power transition theorists notes, “the motivation driving decisions for war is relative satisfaction with the global or regional hierarchy.” High levels of dissatisfaction may prompt states to take on vastly superior rivals. To explain the low levels of conflict since 1991, therefore, scholars must look beyond the distribution of capabilities to account for the absence of such dissatisfaction.

Competition (biology) · Development economics · Economics · Great power · Hierarchy · Mainstream · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Power (physics) · Sociology · Status quo · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Political Conflict and Governance