The Iron Cage of International Anarchy

Great power competition is endemic to the modern system of industrialized nation-states. This article describes and explains the principal features of that competition over the past 226 years, with special attention to how it has evolved during the fifty-year history of International Security (1976–2026). It also focuses on which countries are likely to be great powers in the next 50 years, the likely distribution of power among them, and the prospects for future great power war.