The American magazine “Foreign Policy” published an article saying that the United States is “extremely afraid” of a multipolar world and is striving to maintain a unipolar order that no longer exists. The article also pointed out that a multipolar world is more in line with the interests of the United States than any other order.
The author of this article, Stephen Walter, a professor of international relations at Harvard University, pointed out at the beginning of the article that at the beginning of the United States emerging from the darkness of the Cold War and moving towards the “soft light of a unipolar world“, various scholars and analysts in the world , leaders, as well as leaders of Russia, China, emerging powers such as India and Brazil, and even some important allies of the United States such as Germany and France, have begun to express their desire for a multipolar order.
Broad global desire for multipolarity
But Walter argues that U.S. leaders do not share the broad aspirations of other countries and their leaders for a multipolar world. On the contrary, they prefer the great opportunity and satisfying status of being an indispensable force, and are unwilling to give up this undisputed priority.
Walter added that some prominent scholars believe that American unipolar leadership in the world is “critical to the future of freedom” and is good for the United States and the world. The author also emphasizes that he himself has made some contributions to this view before.
Therefore, the author explained that the government led by US President Biden is currently trying its best to defeat Russia militarily in Ukraine, while also vigorously containing the rise of China.
Restoring the unipolar order may no longer be possible
The authors comment that there is nothing to ensure the success of these efforts, and even if successful, the restoration of the unipolar order is likely no longer realistic, and the final possible scenario is either a bipolar world (with the United States and China as the world‘s leaders). bipolar), or an unbalanced multipolar world where the United States would be at the top of a group of unequal powers that would include China, Russia, India, and perhaps Brazil, and perhaps Rearmed Japan and Germany.
What kind of multipolar world would that be?
International relations theorists remain divided on this issue. Classical realists such as Hans Morgenthau argued that multipolar orders are less prone to war because states can realign their alliances to deter dangerous aggressors and prevent war. Structural realists such as Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer, on the other hand, argue that a bipolar order is more stable because there is less risk of misjudgment under such an order, while the multipolar order inherently Flexibility creates greater uncertainty and makes it more likely that some minor power will believe it can change the situation until others join forces to stop it.
After sorting out some views of theorists in this field, the author puts forward his own point of view—the multipolar order is beneficial to the United States, but the premise is that the United States is aware of its consequences and adjusts its foreign policy accordingly.
Before setting out his personal views, the author also calls on the United States to realize that the unipolar order is not working against it, because in this order, Washington is focused on killing many small countries, including the attacks on September 11, 2001, and It led to two costly and failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ill-advised policies that failed many countries, a financial crisis that dramatically changed American domestic politics, and the rise of China.
A multipolar order is in America’s interest
The author argues that a multipolar order is in the interests of the United States and that it would create a world that includes Eurasia, a continent with multiple great powers of varying strengths. These countries are likely to treat each other with caution, especially given their geographical proximity. And this situation would give the United States a great deal of flexibility to adjust its alliances as needed, as it did with Russia under Stalin in World War II and with Mao Zedong during the Cold War. The next China repairs relations like that.
The ability to pick the right allies, the authors add, has been the secret to US foreign policy success in the past: its status as the only great power in the Western Hemisphere gave it the “freedom and security” that other powers lacked, and whenever serious problems arose, , it becomes an ideal ally.
The authors go on to argue that in a multipolar world, other great powers will gradually assume greater responsibility for their own security, thereby reducing the global burden on the United States. India will build up its military capabilities as its economy grows, while Japan has pledged to double its defense spending by 2027.
Get ready for a multipolar world
The authors make clear that even if the multipolar order is bad for the United States, trying to prevent its arrival will cost the United States dearly, and may even be futile. Americans should therefore start preparing for a multipolar future, rather than trying pointlessly to turn back the clock.
Ideally, he added, an unbalanced multipolar world would encourage the United States to move away from its instinctive reliance on hard power and coercion and place a greater emphasis on genuine diplomacy.
The article concludes with the assumption that if the United States were to be at the head of the unequal power states in a future multipolar order, then the United States would be in an ideal position—one that pits other great powers against each other, and that places it in Eurasia Continental partners take on more security responsibilities.