A Unipolar or Multipolar World?

The United States of America was thrust into a world leadership role in the closing years of World War 11. It became a superpower along with its rival, the Soviet Union. The world became bipolar with these two superpowers structuring and controlling the system of world power. Over the past year, the world again witnessed changes unprecedented in history. The end of the Cold War and the subsequent decline of the USSR marks a dramatic change in the future of world politics. For the first time since Great Britain became the hegemonic leader of the world in the eighteenth century, no single power can come close to the United States in its role as a unipolar world leader. The central question in the world power circles is whether or not the United States can or will retain this unipolar leadership, subjugate its role to the developing power countries of the Pacific Rim or Europe EC, decline altogether as a world power, or share its power status on an equal, cooperative basis. This study briefly integrates the elements of power--military, economic, and political--and the systems of international politics in order to produce a best guess as to the shape of the emerging global power system. A short discussion of historical world power leaders and the sources of their power demonstrate how the three elements of power helped these nations to the forefront of world power. A discussion of the three elements of power, as they relate to the emerging countries of the Pacific Rim and the European Community EC, followed by a brief discussion of international geopolitic systems helps determine which countries, if any, can either replace the United States as the unipolar power leader or share the world power in a multipolar world.