Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Past Event
Seminar

A World Without Superpowers

Open to the Public

The category of superpower, as distinct from great power, has become naturalized in the discourses about international relations. But "superpower" has only become common usage since the end of the Second World War and in modern history cannot meaningfully be applied much further than the 19th century. This seminar will argue that superpowers are a historically contingent phenomenon whose emergence rested on the huge inequality of power between the West and the rest of the world that developed during the 19th century. As this inequality diminishes, the most likely scenario for world politics is de-centered globalism, in which there will be no superpowers, only great powers.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Please note changed location!

Date: Time: - Location: Littauer Building - Room 166
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, addresses leaders of Industry prior to a business breakfast in New Delhi, India, Jan. 21, 2008. Brown was on a visit aimed at strengthening trade and economic ties with the emerging superpower.

About

The category of superpower, as distinct from great power, has become naturalized in the discourses about international relations. But "superpower" has only become common usage since the end of the Second World War and in modern history cannot meaningfully be applied much further than the 19th century. This seminar will argue that superpowers are a historically contingent phenomenon whose emergence rested on the huge inequality of power between the West and the rest of the world that developed during the 19th century. As this inequality diminishes, the most likely scenario for world politics is de-centered globalism, in which there will be no superpowers, only great powers. This seminar uses a framework of material and social factors to show why the United States is unlikely to remain a superpower and why China and the European Union are unlikely to become superpowers. The same framework will be used to look more briefly at why a world with only great powers is likely to take a more regionalized form; why this might produce a quite workable, decentralized, and coexistent international society with some elements of cooperation; and what the possible downsides of a more regionalized international order might be. The seminar will conclude with five policy prescriptions for living in a de-centered globalist world.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Please note changed location!