The return of bipolarity in world politics : China, the United States, and geostructural realism /Øystein Tunsjø

Introduction : a new bipolar system --
Explaining and understanding polarity --
Contemporary U.S.-China bipolarity --
Distinguishing top-ranking states and comparing bipolarity --
Strong balancing postponed --
U.S.-China relations and the risk of war --
The return of bipolarity : global and regional effects --
Conclusion : geostructural realism.

International relations scholar Oystein Tunsjo argues that the international system is transitioning to a bipolarity between the United States and China. Tunsjo develops the case for contemporary bipolarity not only by examining the current distribution of capabilities, but contends that the contemporary distribution of capabilities in the international system is roughly similar to the origins of the last bipolar system of the 1950s. Beginning with a foundation in theory, the book defines polarity and discusses how we can measure power and rank states. Tunsjo introduces three criteria for studying shifts in the distribution of capabilities among the top ranking powers: their rank based on a combined capability score derived from Kenneth Waltz's theory, the space between the second and third ranking power, and a historical comparison of the state's most recent bipolar system. With these models in place, we find that the Soviet hard-balancing seen in the Cold War is replaced by geographical conditions in the U.S.-China bipolar system to create instability and a likelihood for conflict. This is a provocative text that challenges long-held theories in the field and provides new insights on the important relationship between geography and bipolarity--in fact most of the current debates do not even consider bipolarity. Tunsjo discusses implications for the behavior of the U.S. and China and especially the effects of a new bipolar system for the dynamics of international politics