Introduction

The book’s introduction describes its theoretical framework along with its hypothesis. It provides a review of globalization literature that hoped for a future liberal international order with declining state competition. However, recent multipolarity literature shows that such expectations were wrong as state competition remains a significant factor. Structural realism, specifically the work of Kenneth Waltz and Robert Gilpin, explains the profound effect globalization has had on the structure of the international system’s distribution of power leading to the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia. Globalization has thus transformed the unipolar system of the United States to today’s multipolar system.