The Age of Nonpolarity

US dominance of international affairs is becoming increasingly archaic, asserts Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rather than a multipolar model of states balancing power, Haass sees the 21st century segueing into a nonpolar international system, where the United States is joined by increasingly powerful states as well as centers of power “from above, by regional and global organizations; from below, by militias; and from the side, by a variety of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and corporations.” While one can look to historical trends or US policy as reasons for this relative power loss, Haass notes that a third major cause of this systemic shift is globalization. Because cross-border movement of people, goods and ideas is faster and easier than ever before, states have lost many of their gatekeeper rights and non-state actors can and have accumulated strong transnational power. Haass notes that even if nonpolarity may be “inevitable, its character is not.” Effectively navigating US policy in a nonpolar world through nuanced diplomacy, strengthening the transnational linkages of globalization, reinforces international stability. - YaleGlobal