Self-study
P1
Social scientists have traditionally defined multipolar international systems as consisting of three or more nations, each of roughly equal military and economic strength. ███
Mulitpolar systems ·
Three or more nations of equal strength
Characteristics of multipolar ·
Shifting, temporary alliances promote stability
Small confrontations prevent any one nation from dominating ("hegemony")
Example of multipolar ·
Concert of Europe
100 years of peace under miltipolar regime
P2
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Bipolar systems ·
Only two nations of equal strength
Smaller nations ally with the big two
Characteristics of bipolar ·
Frequent, large-scale conflict, one side wins in the end
No third power to balance out conflict and provide stability
Examples of bipolar ·
Athens vs Sparta, USA vs USSR
P3
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Author's criticism ·
A new view is needed
Based on political changes after Cold War, author calls into question the traditional view of multipolar and bipolar systems
Premise ·
Multipolar system in present-day Europe threatens stability
Traditional view says multipolar systems should be stable; author gives counterexample of unstable multipolar system
P4
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Premise ·
Second example of multipolar system undermining stability
Author again counters traditional view of stable multipolar systems using historical example where Europe's multipolar system led to World War I and later World War II
Premise ·
Bipolar system improved stability
Historical example of bipolar system that promoted peace and stability. Author's main point becomes clearer: the traditional view is wrong because history shows that multipolar systems can cause instability and bipolar systems can cause stability.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Peace can be ██████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████
In P4, the author says that a bipolar system— the United States and the USSR— may have promoted peace. But she never suggests that a new bipolar system must emerge in order to maintain peace in Europe. Her main point isn’t about European peace; it’s simply that the traditional view of bipolar and multipolar systems should be reconsidered.
b
All kinds of █████████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████████████ ██████
The author argues that traditional views of multipolar and bipolar systems should be reconsidered, but she never claims that these systems inevitably collapse and endanger international order. In P3 and P4, she does present two multipolar systems in Europe that undermined stability, but she also presents a bipolar system that may have promoted peace.
c
The current European ████████████ █████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████
Actually, the author argues that the multipolar system in Europe today
d
Multipolarity fostered the ██████████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ████████████ ████ █ ███████ ██████ ███████
In P4, the author does say that multipolarity led to World War II and that, given modern weapons, small confrontations in a multipolar system would cause instability today. She doesn’t go so far as to say multipolarity is incompatible with a stable Europe. But even if she did, her main point isn’t about ensuring stability in Europe. It’s simply that traditional views of multipolar and bipolar systems should be reconsidered.
e
The characterization of ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ████████████ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████
The traditional view sees multipolar systems as stable and bipolar systems as open to conflict. The author gives examples that conflict with this view to support her