15 Aug If the international system is bipolar, the likelihood of great power war is very low.
The real question is: If the international system is bipolar, is the likelihood of great power war is high, low, or unrelated to the polarity of the system? And my answer is that the likelihood of great power war is very low.
1. Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Waveland Press, 1979), pp.79-101
2. Kenneth Waltz, “The Origin of War in Neorealist Theory”, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 18, No.4 (Spring 1988), pp.615-628
3. Barry Posen, “Emerging Multipolarity: Why Should We Care?” Current History, 108, No.721 (November 2009), pp.347-352
4. Thucydides, “The Melian Dialogue” in Robert Art and Robert Jarvis
5. Defensive neorealism
However, in the end, I would like to argue that it might have nothing to do with polarity. There are other factors that cause great power wars.
