Does the Concept of Multipolarity Accurately Reflect the Current Geopolitical Reality?

Zvezdanović Lobanova, Jelena and Nikolić, Goran (2024) Does the Concept of Multipolarity Accurately Reflect the Current Geopolitical Reality? The Review of International Affairs, 75 (1191). pp. 261-277. ISSN 0486-6096

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Abstract

We are witnessing the trend of relative economic and, consequently, political weakening of America and the West and a constant rise of the “rest of the world”, primarily China, whose economic growth, despite slowing down in recent years, is still three times faster than that in the EU and the US. Given that the strategies and policies of great powers, as well as of smaller countries like Serbia, depend on it, in this paper, we try to answer the question of whether the world is in the process of becoming bipolar, multipolar, or whether some form of unipolarity will persist. We start with the definition of polarity in neo-realist terms. We generally accept that after the end of the Cold War, there was a moment of unipolar US dominance, coupled with its hegemony, but this moment has largely passed. However, we are faced with the situation that there has been no clear emergence of either a new bipolar or multipolar order. We cannot argue that Beijing is the other pole of power since only the US has functional alliances that carry weight economically and militarily. And, if we are witnessing the emergence of multipolarity, that is the one that is still fundamentally asymmetric in America’s favour since Washington’s actions predominantly determine the main currents of global geopolitical processes. Thus, we claim that the global order is shaped as an unbalanced multipolarity, with the caveat that the role and strength of poles are in modern times considerably less important than before due to the processes of globalisation and economic interdependency.

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