Changes in Distribution of Capabilities across Great Powers since 2001

Tóm tắt

In the decade after the end of the Cold War, there was the US preeminence that no state could challenge its power in the international system. Since 2001, the distribution of capabilities across great powers has dramatically changed. The United States’ relative decline mainly resulted from the rapid growth of newly-emerging economies, especially China and increasingly India. The pace in closing economic development gaps between the newly-emerging powers and the established powers - the United States and its allies, however, has been slowing down. In addition, although the economic factor is important, it cannot comprehensively and precisely reflect national power alone. Therefore, while examining the distribution of capabilities in all dimensions including economic, military, technology, and nonmaterial factors, it is argued in this paper that changes in the distribution of great powers’ capabilities have occurred, but they cannot upset the hierarchy in coming years.