Unipolar Politics: Realism and State Strategies After the Cold War

by Ethan B. Kapstein (Editor), Michael Mastanduno (Editor)

Featuring twelve essays written by prominent scholars in international relations, Unipolar Politics analyzes the decisions that major powers have made since the Cold War to adapt to a rapidly changing economic and security environment. By pointing to powerful evidence that nations around the world are "bandwagoning" with the United States while still trying to maintain some independence of action in the event that America becomes isolationist or antagonistic, this book demonstrates how the United States is being pulled in different directions by its own economic and security requirements--leading to policy contradictions that must be resolved if the "unipolar" moment is to endure.

"The authors in this book offer abundant insights into the nature of contemporary international politics, and help us understand that the struggle for power between states did not stop when the Cold War ended." --John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

"Kapstein and Mastanduno have brought together an excellent group of scholars to explore the many dimensions of the era into which we are rapidly plunging." --Robert G. Gilpin, Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs, Emeritus, Princeton University

"This diverse and spirited collection of essays explains why international competition persists in the new unipolar era, and confirms that realism is still a rich and highly relevant approach to the study of world politics." --Stephen Walt, Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago

"The Cold War has been over for nearly a decade, but we are still struggling to understand its succeeding era. The essays in Unipolar Politics make an important contribution to that quest. --Joseph S. Nye Jr., Harvard University

Genres: International Relations

350 pages, Paperback

First published March 11, 1999

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book that talks about that brief moment in history when the US was the sole hegemonic power!

A great deal of the book was used as a reading for the International Politics course under Prof. Leszek Buszynski (London School of Economics 1980), Fall Term 2004, International University of Japan.