The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War

by Jim Sciutto

The Return of Great Powers documents the end of a world order built up over decades, dealt a deathblow by the largest war in Europe since World War II. This reversal represents strategic shifts by Russia, the United States, and now China—with each side reappraising the others’ objectives and remaking their own. The new order of three great powers is lengthening and hardening dividing lines among the powers while breaking diplomatic and economic ties among them. It is sparking military expansions while reducing military-to-military communication. It is inflating nuclear arsenals and new categories of weapons while dissolving the treaties that regulate such weapons. It is drawing in middle powers and regional interests in unexpected, inconsistent ways. The return of great powers has upended the post–Cold War global order and replaced it with a new, less stable one.