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Unipolarity
Polarity in international relations is any of the various ways in which power is distributed within the international system. It describes the nature of the international system at any given period of time. One generally distinguishes three types of systems: unipolarity, bipolarity, and multipolarity for three or more centers of power. The type of system is completely dependent on the distribution of power and influence of states in a region or across the globe. The Cold War period was widely understood as one of bipolarity with the USA and the USSR as the world's two superpowers, whereas the end of the Cold War led to unipolarity with the US as the world's sole superpower in the 1990s and 2000s. Scholars have debated how to characterize the current international system. Political scientists do not have an agreement on the question what kind of international politics polarity is likely to produce the most stable and peaceful system. Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer are among th ...
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Power (international Relations)
In international relations, power is defined in several different ways. Material definitions of state power emphasize economic and military power. Other definitions of power emphasize the ability to structure and constitute the nature of social relations between actors. Power is an attribute of particular actors in their interactions, as well as a social process that constitutes the social identities and capacities of actors. International relations scholars use the term Polarity (international relations), polarity to describe the distribution of power in the international system. Unipolarity refers to an international system characterized by one hegemon (e.g. the United States in the post–Cold War era), bipolarity to an order with two great powers or blocs of states (e.g. the Cold War), and multipolarity refers to the presence of three or more great powers. Those states that have significant amounts of power within the international system are referred to as small powers, mid ...
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Balance Of Power In International Relations
The balance of power theory in international relations suggests that states may secure their survival by preventing any one state from gaining enough military power to dominate all others. If one state becomes much stronger, the theory predicts it will take advantage of its weaker neighbors, thereby driving them to unite in a defensive coalition. Some realists maintain that a balance-of-power system is more stable than one with a dominant state, as aggression is unprofitable when there is equilibrium of power between rival coalitions. When threatened, states may seek safety either by ''balancing'', allying with others against the prevailing threat; or '' bandwagoning'', aligning themselves with the threatening power. Other alliance tactics include ''buck passing'' and ''chain-ganging''. Realists have long debated how the polarity of a system impacts the choice of tactics; however, it is generally agreed that in bipolar systems, each great power has no choice but to direct ...
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William Wohlforth
William Curti Wohlforth (born 1959) is an American political scientist. He is the Daniel Webster Professor of Government in the Dartmouth College Department of Government, of which he was chair for three academic years (2006-2009). Wohlforth was Editor-in-chief of ''Security Studies'' from 2008 to 2011. He is linked to the Neoclassical realism school and known for his work on American unipolarity. Academic career Wohlforth received his bachelor's degree in International Relations (summa cum laude) from Beloit College. He went on to receive his Master's and Ph.D. from Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ... in International Relations as well. He is the author of ''Elusive Balance: Power and Perceptions during the Cold War'' (Cornell, 1993) and editor of ' ...
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Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term ''Cold war (term), cold war'' is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and Nuclear arms race, nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, Economic sanctions, embargoes, and sports diplomacy. After the end of World War II in 1945, during which the US and USSR had been allies, the USSR installed satellite state, satellite governments in its occupied territories in Eastern Europe and N ...
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Superpower
Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political, and cultural strength as well as International relations, diplomatic and soft power influence. Traditionally, superpowers are preeminent among the great powers. While a great power state is capable of exerting its influence globally, superpowers are states so influential that no significant action can be taken by the global community without first considering the positions of the superpowers on the issue. In 1944, during World War II, the term was first applied to the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States. During the Cold War, the British Empire dissolved, leaving the United States and the Soviet Union to dominate world affairs. At the end of the Cold War and the ...
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Anticipations
''Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought'', generally known as ''Anticipations'', was written by H.G. Wells at the age of 34. He later called the book, which became a bestseller, "the keystone to the main arch of my work." His most recent biographer, however, calls the volume "both the starting point and the lowest point in Wells's career as a social thinker." Taking the revolution in transport facilitated by the "mechanical revolution" as his point of departure, Wells told readers they were living through a reorganization of human society that would alter every dimension of life. An academic biographer has described the degree of accuracy of Wells's predictions as "certainly phenomenal." The chapters of ''Anticipations'' appeared in Great Britain in the '' Fortnightly Review'' (April–December 1901) and in the United States in the '' North American Review'' (June–November 1901), and were published as a book in Novembe ...
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William Thomas Stead
William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst editor of '' The Pall Mall Gazette'', including his 1885 series of articles, '' The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon''. These were written in support of a bill, later dubbed the " Stead Act", that raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Stead's "new journalism" paved the way for the modern tabloid in Great Britain. He has been described as "the most famous journalist in the British Empire". He is considered to have influenced how the press could be used to influence public opinion and government policy, and advocated " Government by Journalism".Joseph O. Baylen"Stead, William Thomas (1849–1912)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., September 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011. He was known for ...
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Security Dilemma
In international relations, the security dilemma (also referred to as the spiral model) is when the increase in one state's security (such as increasing its military strength) leads other states to fear for their own security (because they do not know if the security-increasing state intends to use its growing military for offensive purposes). Consequently, security-increasing measures can lead to tensions, escalation or conflict with one or more other parties, producing an outcome which no party truly desires; a political instance of the prisoner's dilemma. The security dilemma is particularly intense in situations when (1) it is hard to distinguish offensive weapons from defensive weapons, and (2) offense has the advantage in any conflict over defense. Military technology and geography strongly affect the offense-defense balance. The term was first coined by the German scholar John H. Herz in a 1950 study. At the same time British historian Herbert Butterfield described the same ...
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Michael Beckley (political Scientist)
Michael Beckley is an American political scientist currently serving as Director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, associate professor of political science at Tufts University, and a non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. His research focuses on great-power competition, US-China relations, alliance building, and US defense policy in East Asia. Education Beckley holds a BA in international studies from Emory University and a PhD in political science from Columbia University. Publications Books * Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower(2018)'' * Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China' (2023) (co-authored with Hal Brands) Articles * How Primed for War Is China? ''Foreign Policy'', February 4, 2024 (co-authored with Hal Brands) * Delusions of Détente, ''Foreign Affairs (''August 2023) * No One Should Want to See a Dictator Get Old, ''New York Times ''The New York Times' ...
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GDP Per Capita
This is a list of countries by nominal GDP per capita. GDP per capita is the total value of a country's finished goods and services (gross domestic product) divided by its total population (per capita). Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living; however, this is inaccurate because GDP per capita is not a measure of personal income. Measures of personal income include average wage, real income, median income, disposable income and GNI per capita. Comparisons of GDP per capita are also frequently made on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP), to adjust for differences in the cost of living in different countries, ''see'' List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita. PPP largely removes the exchange rate problem but not others; it does not reflect the value of economic output in international trade, and it also requires more estimation than GDP per capita. On the whole, PPP per capita figures are more narrowly spre ...
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International Relations
International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns all activities among states—such as war, diplomacy, trade, and foreign policy—as well as relations with and among other international actors, such as intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), international legal bodies, and multinational corporations (MNCs). International relations is generally classified as a major multidiscipline of political science, along with comparative politics, political methodology, political theory, and public administration. It often draws heavily from other fields, including anthropology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, and sociology. There are several schools of thought within IR, of which the most prominent are realism, l ...
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Barry Posen
Barry Ross Posen (born July 13, 1952) is Ford International Professor of Political Science at MIT and the director of MIT's Security Studies Program. An expert in the field of security studies, he currently serves on the editorial boards of the journals ''International Security'' and ''Security Studies'' and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served as a study group member for the Hart-Rudman Commission. Posen is a structural realist. Posen received his B.A. from Occidental College in 1974 and his M.A. and PhD, under Kenneth Waltz, from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976 and 1981 respectively. Posen worked as a consultant for the RAND Corporation and an analyst for the Department of Defense and Center for Strategic and International Studies before becoming an assistant professor of political science at Princeton University in 1984. In 1987, he joined MIT as associate professor of political science and has taught at MIT since that time. He has al ...
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