International Politics and State Strength
  • 2002/173 pages

International Politics and State Strength

Thomas J. Volgy and Alison Bailin
Hardcover: $55.00
ISBN: 978-1-58826-141-0
Paperback: $18.95
ISBN: 978-1-58826-117-5
Although it has been more than a decade since the Cold War global structure collapsed, neither scholars nor policymakers have clearly identified its replacement. What is the new world order, ask Thomas Volgy and Alison Bailin; and in the midst of declining state strength, who sustains it? They find their answers in the system collectively constructed by the major powers.

The authors consider both the nature of state strength and the changing capabilities of the states most likely to construct global architecture. Demonstrating that the traditional structures of global order—hegemony, bipolarity, and multipolarity—are inconsistent with existing and projected patterns of state strength, they present a provocative alternative model that reflects the "creeping incrementalism" of multilateral institutions and the "institutionalized group hegemony" of the G7 states. In their final chapter, they explore the weaknesses of the present architectural arrangements and discuss alternative scenarios.

Thomas J. Volgy is professor of political science at the University of Arizona and executive director of the International Studies Association. He has also served as mayor of Tucson, Arizona. His publications include Politics in the Trenches: Citizens, Politicians, and the Fate of Democracy and (with John Schwarz) The Forgotten Americans: Working Hard and Living Poor in the Land of Opportunity. Alison Bailin is currently doing research with the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto. She is author of From Traditional to Group Hegemony: Liberal Economic Order and the Core-Periphery Gap (forthcoming 2003).
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