Foreign PolicyForeign Policy

The next global superpower isn’t who you think

By Ian Bremmer

17 Jun 2023 · 7 min read

informed Summary

  1. The world has transitioned from a bipolar to a unipolar to a 'G-Zero' world, with no global leaders and multiple overlapping world orders.

Who runs the world?

This used to be an easy question to answer. If you’re over 45, you grew up in a world dominated by two superpowers. The United States and its allies set the rules on one side of the Berlin Wall, while the Soviet Union called the shots on the other. Nearly every other country had to align its political, economic, and security systems with one side or the other. That was a bipolar world.

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