Russia and multipolarity since the end of the Cold War

Abstract

Scholarly debates about the changing nature of international power and its distribution have been an ongoing feature of the years since the end of the Cold War in 1991. Most of these have focused on the position and role of the USA in a unipolar world. In contrast, there has been relatively little discussion about the concept of multipolarity and its various possible meanings. To the extent that such debates have been evident, they have developed to a more significant extent in Russia than in other states. In these Russian debates, three distinct strands of thinking about multipolarity have become apparent. These can be termed the “confrontationalist”, “competitive”, and “concert-based” views of multipolarity in the post-Cold War world.

Keywords:

• Russia
• multipolarity
• international power
• USA

Acknowledgements

The views expressed here are personal and should not be taken to represent the policy or views of the British Government, Ministry of Defence, or the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The author is grateful to the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.